Robot-Mediated Learning: Exploring School-Deployed Collaborative Robots for Homebound Children

在美国，超过250万儿童因医疗原因而无法回家。他们在社会上是孤立的，身体上是隔离的，目前的教育做法基本上将他们排除在学校社区之外。远程呈现机器人已经成为支持这些孩子返回当地学校的一种可能的手段，然而，人们还不知道在家的孩子如何有效地使用这些机器人来获得最佳的学习和社会发展体验。这个项目的目标是在学校推进机器人中介的学习，并调查合作机器人如何促进最佳的学习体验。调查人员将1)确定在学校使用具体化合作机器人的最佳做法和指导方针，以最好地促进学习和社会发展；2)为在家的儿童设计新的包容性接口和控制模式，让他们使用移动远程机械手，以及3)率先推出新的包容性机器人课程，以支持残疾儿童进入STEM劳动力大军。该项目将在多个领域产生新知识，包括人机交互、教育和医疗保健。该项目还将通过探索如何使残疾人无障碍使用移动远程机械手来促进科学进步，包括对创造未来机器人系统的新见解，这些系统可以由最终用户动态重新配置，而不需要领域专业知识。这项工作将通过深入了解机器人中介的互动来造福社会，这些互动可以延伸到其他领域，如远程医疗、远程医疗，以及其他在与现实世界的社区保持社交联系方面遇到障碍的人。该项目的成果将把与公共空间中的人类操作的合作机器人有关的社会、教育、财政和伦理问题置于首要地位，并探索新的方法来包容在整个社会以及STEM领域中代表性不足的学生。该项目将为几个关键研究问题提供信息，包括：1)确定有助于最佳学习的机器人中介学习任务；2)创建最佳实践和指导方针，纳入日常合作机器人互动的社会规范；3)为在家的儿童设计新的可访问、可适应和可用的移动远程控制模式；4)利用与具体合作机器人的互动来激发对STEM的兴趣，特别是医疗在家的儿童和残疾儿童。该项目将采用案例研究方法，探索机器人中介学习体验中利益相关者之间的相互联系。该项目将由48个案例研究组成，每个案例通常由22个参与者组成：一个在家的孩子、一个家长、一个老师、18个同学和一个学校管理人员。将使用多种数据来源，包括直接观察、半结构化访谈、调查和焦点小组。访谈、观察笔记和调查答复的记录将经过开放式编码，以确定案件内部和之间的共同点/差异。分析中出现的主题和概念将与数据反复比较，以确保其有效性。研究团队将与在家的儿童合作，共同设计可访问和可适应的控制界面，以反映这一群体的独特教育和社会需求。该项目由国家机器人倡议2.0：无处不在的协作机器人(NRI-2.0)计划和学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划资助，该计划支持一些项目，这些项目建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解，有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程、这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Over 2.5 million children in the US are medically homebound. They are socially isolated, physically segregated, and current educational practices largely exclude them from their school communities. Telepresence robots have emerged as a possible means to support these children to return to their local schools, however, it is not yet understood how homebound children can effectively use these robots for optimal learning and social development experiences. The goal of this project is to advance robot-mediated learning in schools, and investigate how co-robots can facilitate optimal learning experiences. The investigators will 1) Identify best practices and guidelines for the use of embodied co-robots in schools to best facilitate learning and social development; 2) Design new inclusive interfaces and control modalities for homebound children to use mobile telemanipulators, and 3) Pioneer new inclusive robotics curricula to support children with disabilities entering the STEM workforce. This project will yield new knowledge in multiple fields, including human-robot interaction, education, and healthcare. This project will also promote the progress of science by exploring how to make mobile telemanipulators accessible to people with disabilities, including new insights in the creation of future robot systems that can be dynamically reconfigured by end users without requiring domain expertise. This work will benefit society through insights into robot-mediated interaction which can extend to other domains, such as telemedicine, telehealth, and others who experience barriers to remaining socially connected to their real-world communities. The results of this project will bring to the forefront societal, educational, fiscal, and ethical issues concerning human-operated co-robots in public spaces, and explore new ways to be inclusive of students underrepresented both in society at large as well as in STEM fields. This project will inform several key research questions including: 1) Identifying robot-mediated learning tasks that contribute to optimal learning; 2) Creating best practices and guidelines that incorporate social norms for daily co-robot interactions; 3) Designing new accessible, adaptable, and usable control modalities for mobile telemanipulation for homebound children; 4) Leveraging interaction with an embodied co-robot to motivate interest in STEM, with a particular focus on medically homebound children and children with disabilities. The project will employ a case study research methodology, exploring stakeholder interconnectedness in the robot-mediated learning experience. The project will consist of 48 case studies, where each case will typically consist of 22 participants: a homebound child, a parent, a teacher, 18 classmates, and a school administrator. Multiple sources of data will be used, consisting of direct observations, semi-structured interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Transcripts from interviews, observation notes, and survey responses will undergo open-coding to identify commonalities/differences within and between cases. The themes and concepts that emerge from the analysis will be repeatedly compared with the data to ensure their validity. The research team will work with homebound children to co-design accessible and adaptable control interfaces to reflect the unique educational and social needs of this population.This project is funded by the National Robotics Initiative 2.0: Ubiquitous Collaborative Robots (NRI-2.0) program, and the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.