REU Site: End-User Programming of Cyber-Physical Systems

弗吉尼亚联邦大学将建立一个本科生研究经验(REU)网站，开展关于网络物理系统最终用户编程的研究项目。由于可编程设备的数量和多样性的增长，最终用户(即那些未受过程序员培训的用户)正越来越多地成为事实上的程序员，配置和指挥自己的系统。与此同时，随着消费机器人和家庭自动化系统变得司空见惯，计算与物理世界的互动越来越多。在这种终端用户为网络物理系统编程的新环境中，他们用来指定程序的编程语言和帮助他们避免常见错误的编程工具将对他们的生产力、安全性和安全性变得至关重要。这个REU网站每年将培训9名本科生，其中包括一大批传统上在计算领域代表不足的学生，作为贡献者，他们最终将研究、设计和评估用于网络物理系统的最终用户编程的新技术。该项目将推动网络物理系统最终用户编程的最先进水平，这一活动将在未来十年影响数亿用户。该项目的研究战略是将传统软件工程和CS教育研究来之不易的经验教训应用到最终用户编程中，对相关工具和语言进行改进，最终使最终用户程序更健壮、更安全、更容易编写。该项目将利用面向新手程序员的编程环境，例如基于块的编程。在体现了新的研究想法作为原型后，研究团队将通过定量用户研究、分析生成的用户研究数据、创建和进行大规模调查以及访谈等定性方法对其进行评估。该奖项反映了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。

Virginia Commonwealth University will establish a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site conducting research projects on end-user programming for cyber-physical systems. Due to the growth in the number and diversity of programmable devices, end-users (i.e., those not trained as programmers) are increasingly becoming de facto programmers, configuring and commanding their own systems. At the same time, computing is increasingly interacting with the physical world, as consumer robotics and home automation systems are becoming commonplace. In this new context, where end-users program cyber-physical systems, both the programming languages they use to specify programs and the programming tools that help them avoid common mistakes will become vital to their productivity, security, and safety. This REU site will train 9 undergraduate students per year, including a significant cohort of those traditionally under-represented in computing, as contributors who will ultimately research, design, and evaluate novel techniques for end-user programming of cyber-physical systems.This project will advance the state-of-the-art in end-user programming for cyber-physical systems, an activity which will impact hundreds of millions of users in the coming decade. The project’s research strategy is to apply the hard-won lessons from traditional software engineering and CS education research to end-user programming, making improvements upon the relevant tools and languages, ultimately making end-user programs more robust, secure and easier to write. The project will leverage programming environments targeting novice programmers, such as block-based programming. After embodying new research ideas as prototypes, the research team will evaluate them via quantitative user studies, analyze generated user study data, create and conduct large-scale surveys, and qualitative methods such as interviewing.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.