SBIR Phase II: Making Makers- Developing Multiple Pathways to Invention through a Low Cost Maker Device

这个小企业创新研究的第二阶段项目将不断完善并朝着这个项目的创意制造者工具的生产迈进，这是一种增强现实体验，在这种体验中，玩的行为本质上是发明。该系统使用现代技术来避免使用数字屏幕。在整个体验过程中，学习者挖掘他们在非数字世界中创造和塑造想法的自然倾向，并发展在技术媒介中流畅地构建新想法的能力。这个项目的商业化将解决两个全国性的重要问题。首先，通过逐步将他们的想法变为现实，这个项目将培养年轻学习者的创造性信心：提出想法的自然能力和采取行动的勇气。其次，美国在创新和创业方面存在性别差异。女性申请专利的比例是男性的40%，只有9%的信息技术相关专利有一名或多名女性发明人，而旨在将创新商业化的孵化器的受益者中只有8%是女性。该项目将通过拓宽参与制作的途径，解决创客社区（目前80%为男性）中的性别平等问题。该系统由一个投影系统组成，可以在没有计算机屏幕的情况下实现日常物体和虚拟物体之间的实时可编程交互。在整个研究过程中，我们将创建和完善STEM（科学技术工程和数学）应用程序，这些应用程序是内置的增强活动，用户可以使用日常物品创建小型发明，以编码交互并影响程序流程或游戏玩法，开发增强教程，通过实时接口无缝连接到现有的STEM工具，以及制造和准备系统。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will continually refine and move towards production of this project's Creative Maker Tool, an augmented reality experience where the act of playing is inherently inventing. The system uses modern technology to avoid digital screens. Throughout this experience, learners tap into their natural proclivities to make and shape ideas in the non-digital world, and develop the ability to fluently construct new ideas in a technical medium. The commercialization of this project will address two, nationally important issues. First, by scaffolding young learners through progressively bringing their ideas into reality, this project will foster creative confidence: the natural ability to come up with ideas and the courage to act on them. Next, there is a gender gap in innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States. Women patent at 40% the rate of men, only 9% of information technology related patents have one or more female inventors, and only 8% of the beneficiaries of incubators meant to commercialize innovations were women. This project will address gender equity issues in the maker community (currently 80% male) and by widening pathways to engage in making.The system is composed of a projection system that allows real-time programmable interactions between everyday and virtual objects without a computer screen. Throughout this research, we will create and refine STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Apps, which are built-in augmented activities where users create small inventions with everyday objects to code interactions and affect program flow or gameplay, develop Augmented Tutorials, bridge seamlessly to existing STEM tools through real-time interfacing, as well as manufacture and prepare the system.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.