Workshop on Unified Curriculum and Course Design for Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering

近半个世纪来，机电一体化和机器人工程（MRE）领域一直在持续增长，现在几乎所有的制造业务都采用了MRE。然而，只是在过去的十年里，教育机构才开始认识到这一领域是一个独特的工程学科，因为越来越多的大学和学院提供MRE学位课程。尽管这种兴趣增加，MRE仍然缺乏一个明确的和统一的框架，本科学位课程。该项目的主要动机是克服这一挑战，以培养未来的工程师，具有强大的多学科理论和实验技能。拥有这一技能的毕业生将对美国的竞争力至关重要，因为他们将能够设计、开发和实施改善人类健康和福利的变革性自主技术。这一愿景将使MRE成为最具影响力的工程学科之一，吸引多样化和创新的学生，毕业的专业工程师将设计，开发和实施变革性的自主技术，并改善人类健康和福利。为了实现这一愿景，该项目建议通过举办一个密集的研讨会来教育教育工作者，以使当前和未来的MRE教师能够有效地设计和教授这一学科的课程。项目团队将通过讲座，主动学习和动手实验室练习的结合，使参与者熟悉本科MRE教育的最新技术和教学进步。这将有助于建立一个多元化、包容性的MRE社区，增加提供MRE教育的学院和大学的数量和广度，加强已经教授MRE的学院和大学的MRE课程，并授权教师领导其机构的MRE课程倡议。拟议的研讨会将授权参与者成为其机构的变革推动者、教育创新者和思想领袖。它将通过让与会者积极动手学习最先进的MRE教育概念，技术和方法来做到这一点。作为研讨会的结果，MRE教育界将扩大和参与，从而提高学生成为机电一体化和机器人工程专业人员的机会。该研讨会还将实现几个社会目标。首先，通过教育教育工作者，它将利用25名参与者的研讨会，随着时间的推移，为成千上万的学生提供更好的教育。机器人技术，通过媒体，比赛和公众的看法证明，有巨大的潜力吸引大量的学生进入STEM领域。这些学生将通过开发新的机电一体化和机器人技术和应用，为国家的长期经济竞争力和活力做出贡献。最后，通过促进多样性和包容性，研讨会将导致更广泛的参与工程服务不足的人群。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的，通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The field of Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering (MRE) has seen continuous growth for almost half a century, and MRE is now embedded in nearly all manufacturing operations. However, it is only within the last decade that educational institutions have started to recognize this field as a distinct engineering discipline, as more universities and colleges offer MRE degree programs. Despite this increased interest, MRE still lacks a well-defined and unified framework for undergraduate degree programs. This project's main motivation is to overcome this challenge in order to train future engineers, with a strong multidisciplinary theoretical and experimental skillset. Graduates with this skillset will be crucial for American competitiveness, because they will be capable of design, development, and implementation of transformative autonomous technologies that improve human health and welfare. This vision will enable MRE to become one of the most impactful disciplines of engineering, attracting diverse and innovative students, graduating professional engineers who will design, develop, and implement transformative autonomous technologies, and improving human health and welfare. To realize this vision, this project proposes to educate the educators by conducting an intensive workshop to prepare current and future MRE faculty to effectively design and teach courses in this discipline. The project team will familiarize participants with the most recent technological and pedagogical advances in undergraduate MRE education through a combination of lectures, active learning, and hands-on lab exercises. This will serve to build a diverse, inclusive MRE community, increase the number and breadth of colleges and universities that offer MRE education, strengthen the MRE offerings at colleges and universities that already teach MRE, and empower faculty to lead MRE curriculum initiatives at their institutions.The proposed workshop will empower participants to serve as change agents, educational innovators, and thought leaders at their institutions. It will do this by engaging attendees in active hands-on learning of state-of-the-art MRE education concepts, techniques, and approaches. As a result of the workshop, the MRE educational community will be enlarged and engaged, leading to enhanced opportunities for students to become Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering professionals. The workshop will meet several societal goals as well. First, by educating the educators, it will leverage a workshop of 25 participants into an improved education for 10s of thousands of students over time. Robotics, as demonstrated through the media, competitions, and public perception, has immense potentialto draw large numbers of students into STEM fields. These students will in turn contribute to the nation’s long-term economic competitiveness and vitality by developing new mechatronic and robotics technologies and applications. Last, by promoting diversity and inclusivity, the workshop will lead to broader participation in engineering by underserved populations.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.