NRI: Co-Robots for COMPUGIRLS - Culturally Responsive Robotics Education for Underrepresented Girls

机器人在美国代表着一个每年都在增长的数十亿美元的行业。目前，人数不足的人口参与科学、技术、工程和数学领域的程度存在差距。这一差距在机器人领域尤为严重。这个由马凯特大学领导的项目正在开发一个与文化相关的课程，教女孩编程与人类合作的协作机器人或类人机器人。COMPUGIRLS合作机器人方案的重点是利用有效的、与文化相关的课程和教学方法，让来自资源不足地区的女孩接触到合作机器人。这个机器人教育项目旨在通过用人形机器人合作活动来补充S的课程，来扩展已经存在的由美国国家科学基金会资助的非正式教育项目--COMPUGIRLS。项目活动将在亚利桑那州立大学工程学专业学生的支持下得到促进，这些学生担任近距离同行导师。高中生和本科生之间的合作有望增加女孩对机器人相关职业的兴趣，并将产生联合机器人项目，该项目具有允许联合机器人与女孩和社区成员互动的功能。COMPUGIRLS联合机器人计划提供了一种具有很高潜力的方法，可以让女孩参与到新兴的联合机器人领域。合作机器人的运作涉及到与人的合作和互动。预计未来在医疗保健、农业、教育和先进制造业等不同领域的应用程序将变得越来越重要。然而，目前大多数K-12机器人活动集中在基于任务的机器人对机器人比赛和机电机器人。这些现有的机器人项目在接纳女孩方面面临挑战，特别是那些来自代表性不足人口的女孩。该项目的目标是在COMPUGIRLS的背景下开发和研究符合文化要求的合作机器人课程，并让女孩参与有效的类人机器人编程。所采取的方法是基于早先的COMPUGIRLS研究结果。文化回应的要素包括让女孩参与社会和技术资产建设的界面，要求她们反思自己的技术和社会身份。发展女孩作为技术-社会变革的推动者，具备利用技术改善社区的技能，被认为是让女孩参与技术努力的一个重要因素。该项目将采用混合方法研究设计，以确定利用与文化相关的指导和互动，让代表性不足的女孩参与响应文化的人形机器人的影响。这项研究将通过考虑目前机器人教育中未被探索的文化方面来推动合作机器人学科的发展。

Robotics in the U.S. represents a multi-billion industry that is growing yearly. Currently a gap exists in the degree to which underrepresented populations participate in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The gap is especially severe in the area of robotics. This project lead by Marquette University is developing a culturally-relevant curricula to teach girls to program co-robots or humanoid robots that work in collaboration with people. The focus of the co-robots for COMPUGIRLS program is to expose girls from under-resourced areas to co-robotics using effective, culturally-relevant curricula and instructional approaches. This robotics education program is designed to expand the already extant NSF-funded informal education program, COMPUGIRLS, through supplementing this program?s curriculum with humanoid co-robotic activities. Project activities will be facilitated with the support of engineering majors from Arizona State University serving as near peer mentors. Collaborations between high school students and undergraduates are expected to increase girls' interest in robotics-related careers, and will yield co-robot projects with features that allow the co-robots to interface with girls and members in their communities.The co-robots for COMPUGIRLS program offers an approach with a high potential to engage girls in the emerging field of co-robotics. The functioning of co-robots involves collaboration and interaction with people. Applications are expected to grow in significance in the future in such diverse areas as healthcare, agriculture, education, and advanced manufacturing. However, most current K-12 robotics activities are focused on task-based robot-to-robot competitions and electro-mechanical robots. These existing robotics programs face challenges in including girls, particularly those from underrepresented populations. The objectives of this project are to develop and study a culturally-responsive co-robotics curriculum in the context of COMPUGIRLS and involve girls in effective humanoid robotics programming. The approach taken is based on earlier COMPUGIRLS research results. The elements of cultural responsiveness consists of engaging girls at the interface of social and technical asset building in ways that require them to reflect on their intersectional identities both technical and social. Developing girls as technosocial change agents with skills in using technology to improve communities was found to be an important element in engaging girls in technological endeavors. This project will employ a mixed methods research design to determine the impact of engaging underrepresented girls in culturally responsive humanoid robotics using culturally relevant instruction and interactions. The research will advance the discipline of co-robotics by considering cultural aspects currently underexplored in robotics education.