STTR Phase II: A Design-Driven Educational Robotics Framework

STTR 第二阶段：设计驱动的教育机器人框架

• 批准号: 2126882
• 负责人: Wei Liao
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: Mechanismic Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126882&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; II; Design; Driven

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project is in teaching K-12 and college students STEM concepts in the fun-filled context of designing, building, and programming machines and robots and preparing them for the future technology-driven jobs. This project seeks to make robotics education affordable, equitable, and inclusive for students at all grade levels. By taking a multi-disciplinary and cross-curricula approach, the product developed through this project engages students, especially women and minorities from diverse backgrounds, effectively in STEM disciplines and helps them make suitable career choices. The ultimate goals of this project are aligned with the NSF's mandate to support development of a strong STEM workforce and help fill the 2.5 million STEM jobs that are vacant according to the current US Department of Labor Statistics. The technological innovations emerging from this project would result in a computational tool for synthesis of robot motions, which can be used broadly in industrial automation and invention of machines and robots. The proposed design-driven educational robotics product has the potential to improve engagement with science and technology and positively impact the U.S. educational robotics market, which is expected to grow to $2.7 billion by 2021.This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II project aims to bring together rigid body kinematics, machine learning, and engineering design to create a new product for design-driven robotics education for K-12 schools, freshman college programs, and STEM camps. The leading commercially available educational robotic systems emphasize 1) instruction-driven prototyping of robot structures using many specialized parts, and 2) programming them without providing any intuition behind the design process or guidance to creating mechanism design concepts for the realization of the motion of the robots. Driven by a need to keep pace with the evolving techno- and socio-economic requirements, new science standards, and remain competitive, schools and camps are increasingly adopting STEM and Robotics programs and products. This product would fill that void that currently exists in the educational market. If successful, this project would result in a state-of-the-art motion design software, a novel hardware kit, and standards-aligned curriculum and learning resources for schools and colleges. The software based on the machine learning in mechanism design research will allow creation of robot assemblies and their motions before constructing their corresponding physical models and provide students necessary skills and experience in the design process.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.

这个小企业技术转移 (STTR) 第二阶段项目的更广泛影响是在充满乐趣的设计、建造和编程机器和机器人的背景下向 K-12 和大学生教授 STEM 概念，并为他们未来的技术驱动型工作做好准备。该项目旨在为所有年级的学生提供负担得起、公平且包容的机器人教育。通过采取多学科和跨课程的方法，该项目开发的产品吸引了学生，特别是来自不同背景的女性和少数族裔，有效地参与 STEM 学科，并帮助他们做出合适的职业选择。该项目的最终目标与 NSF 的使命相一致，即支持培养一支强大的 STEM 劳动力队伍，并帮助填补根据美国劳工部目前的数据显示的 250 万个 STEM 职位空缺。该项目的技术创新将产生一种用于合成机器人运动的计算工具，可广泛用于工业自动化以及机器和机器人的发明。拟议的设计驱动型教育机器人产品有潜力提高人们对科学技术的参与度，并对美国教育机器人市场产生积极影响，预计到 2021 年该市场将增长至 27 亿美元。这个小型企业技术转移第二阶段项目旨在将刚体运动学、机器学习和工程设计结合起来，为 K-12 学校、新生大学课程和 STEM 夏令营创建用于设计驱动型机器人教育的新产品。领先的商用教育机器人系统强调 1) 使用许多专用部件对机器人结构进行指令驱动的原型设计，以及 2) 对它们进行编程，而无需提供设计过程背后的任何直觉或指导来创建用于实现机器人运动的机构设计概念。为了跟上不断发展的技术和社会经济要求、新的科学标准并保持竞争力，学校和营地越来越多地采用 STEM 和机器人项目和产品。该产品将填补目前教育市场中存在的空白。如果成功，该项目将为学校和学院带来最先进的运动设计软件、新颖的硬件套件以及符合标准的课程和学习资源。基于机构设计研究中的机器学习的软件将允许在构建相应的物理模型之前创建机器人组件及其运动，并为学生提供设计过程中必要的技能和经验。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

A Unified Real-Time Motion Generation Algorithm for Approximate Position Analysis of Planar N-Bar Mechanisms

平面 N 杆机构近似位置分析的统一实时运动生成算法

• DOI: 10.1115/1.4064132
• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: Journal of Mechanical Design
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Lyu, Zhijie;Purwar, Anurag;Liao, Wei
• 通讯作者: Liao, Wei

Transforming Hand-Drawn Sketches of Linkage Mechanisms Into Their Digital Representation

将联动机构的手绘草图转换为数字表示形式

• DOI: 10.1115/1.4064037
• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Nurizada, Anar;Purwar, Anurag
• 通讯作者: Purwar, Anurag

An Invariant Representation of Coupler Curves Using a Variational AutoEncoder: Application to Path Synthesis of Four-Bar Mechanisms

使用变分自动编码器的耦合器曲线的不变表示：在四杆机构路径综合中的应用

• DOI: 10.1115/1.4063726
• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Nurizada, Anar;Purwar, Anurag
• 通讯作者: Purwar, Anurag

Deep Learning-Driven Design of Robot Mechanisms

深度学习驱动的机器人机构设计

• DOI: 10.1115/1.4062542
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Purwar, Anurag;Chakraborty, Nilanjan
• 通讯作者: Chakraborty, Nilanjan