Research Initiation: Embodied and Student-Centered Robotics in the Professional Formation of Engineers

研究启动：以学生为中心的机器人技术在工程师专业培养中的应用

• 批准号: 2306285
• 负责人: Hongbo Zhang
• 金额: $ 19.97万
• 依托单位: Middle Tennessee State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306285&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Initiation; Embodied; Student; Centered

The global robotics technology market size is expected to grow three times from 2021 to 2030. There is, however, a limited workforce pipeline to sustain the rapid growth of the industry demands, leading to increased workload and decreased quality of output. To resolve these challenges, this project will investigate effective engineering educational methods to prepare future robotics engineers. The research will leverage industry partners’ needs to formulate the industry requirements for robotics engineers. The research will immerse learners in engaging learning environments emphasizing human-robot interactions for effective learning of robotics technologies. Various real-world robotics engineering tasks will be used through the learning process. A virtual reality application will be developed to create immersive learning environments to explore the development of robotics software, hardware, motion control, and object manipulation. Hands on activities and projects will be used in the classes to boost the learning efficacy of the robotics technology. Iterative and rigorous evaluation will ensure the learning outcomes to maximize the impacts on the formation of engineering workforce of robotics. The project will use embodied learning and user-centered design for the practical integration of robotics into engineering education for the formation of engineers. For this goal, embodied learning and user-centered design will be developed and assessed through user studies and class learning settings for their performance, to improve robotics engineering education. The project will answer two research questions; (1) To what extent the student-centered design influences the formation of engineers? and (2) To what extent the embodied learning influences the formation of engineers? To answer the first research question, student-centered design techniques including persona and user journey maps will be used to identify the gaps in robotics skills between industry partners’ requirements and students’ knowledge. To answer the second research question, the effectiveness of embodied learning in robotics education will be assessed. The proposed embodied learning will address the difficulties of conventional computation-centered robotics workforce training methods. Embodied learning will reduce the need for abstract and conceptual thinking capabilities of students required by the conventional computation-centered learning approach. Embodied learning is expected to reduce frustrations and increase joyfulness, growth of knowledge retention, and improved problem-solving skills. Motoric engagement embodied activities including gesture, posture, locomotion, and manipulation of robotics tasks will be used during the learning. Perceived immersion embodied activities such as using a virtual reality app to perform robotics tasks will be also evaluated for their effectiveness in learning. The semester-long electronics and instrumentation as well as control and optimization courses will be used to explore the effectiveness of applying embodied learning in robotics software, hardware, and motion control with multiple difficulty levels. Two workshops will use robotics platforms, student-centered instructional design, and embodied learning protocols to showcase the effectiveness of embodied learning. The user-centered robotics instructional content will be hosted on a Web portal for public use. Dissemination activities will contribute new knowledge to the robotics engineering education community.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.

全球机器人技术市场规模预计将从2021年到2030年增长三倍。然而，维持行业需求快速增长的劳动力供应有限，导致工作量增加，产出质量下降。为了解决这些挑战，该项目将研究有效的工程教育方法，以培养未来的机器人工程师。 该研究将利用行业合作伙伴的需求来制定机器人工程师的行业要求。该研究将使学习者沉浸在强调人机交互的参与学习环境中，以有效学习机器人技术。各种现实世界的机器人工程任务将通过学习过程中使用。将开发虚拟现实应用程序，以创建沉浸式学习环境，探索机器人软件，硬件，运动控制和对象操作的发展。实践活动和项目将在课堂上使用，以提高机器人技术的学习效率。迭代和严格的评估将确保学习成果最大限度地影响机器人工程人才的形成。 该项目将使用体现式学习和以用户为中心的设计，将机器人技术实际融入工程教育，以培养工程师。为了实现这一目标，将通过用户研究和课堂学习设置来开发和评估体现学习和以用户为中心的设计，以改善机器人工程教育。本研究将回答两个问题：（1）以学生为中心的设计在多大程度上影响工程师的形成？（2）体验式学习在多大程度上影响工程师的形成？为了回答第一个研究问题，以学生为中心的设计技术，包括人物角色和用户旅程地图，将用于确定行业合作伙伴的要求和学生的知识之间的机器人技能的差距。为了回答第二个研究问题，将评估体现学习在机器人教育中的有效性。提出的体现学习将解决传统的以计算为中心的机器人劳动力培训方法的困难。 传统的以计算为中心的学习方法要求学生具备抽象和概念思维能力，而计算机辅助学习则可以减少这种要求。 期望通过自主学习减少挫折，增加快乐，增加知识记忆，提高解决问题的能力。在学习过程中，将使用包括手势、姿势、运动和机器人任务操作在内的运动参与体现活动。 感知沉浸体现活动，如使用虚拟现实应用程序执行机器人任务，也将评估其学习效果。 为期一个学期的电子和仪器仪表以及控制和优化课程将用于探索在机器人软件，硬件和运动控制中应用体现学习的有效性。两个研讨会将使用机器人平台，以学生为中心的教学设计和体现学习协议，以展示体现学习的有效性。 以用户为中心的机器人教学内容将托管在一个门户网站上供公众使用。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。