SBIR Phase II: Bluebird: Integrated IoT for Educators and Learners

该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目开发了一个用于实践探索的低成本门户，并为教育工作者和学习者提升了物联网(IoT)基础知识。该项目的总体目标是用一种替代的、面向未来的方法来设计互联设备，以改变目前的STEM格局，并向广泛的学生介绍复杂技术的创造性应用。网络物理系统--通常被称为物联网--正在铺设新的信息通道，并将很快成为从医药到出版的所有行业的基础。这些概念需要在STEM课程中教授，但今天甚至很少在K-12课堂上提到。最终产品将帮助完成NSF的使命，即通过建设未来的技术，为青年领导科学创新和拥有成功的职业生涯做好准备。此二期项目开发了一个无与伦比的教育工具，使用户能够构建简单但全周期的物联网系统。该产品展示了物联网的底层架构，并引导用户了解电子、协作编码、数据安全和社会影响等概念。主要的技术创新是：1)设计占地面积小、低成本的硬件和机载通信组件；以及2)配套的软件平台，支持与多个联网设备的协作编码，同时保持最高级别的安全和隐私功能，以保护学生数据。目前，EdTech市场上的物联网系统具有多层定制技术和过时的组件。该项目提供可广泛使用的硬件和软件物联网构建块，功能齐全。学生将设计项目，通过赋予对象属性、情感和行为来远程激活对象。此外，他们将意识到他们的项目的社会影响，因为他们考虑对象的属性如何在网络范围内改变和响应，并在端到端物联网系统中发明因果交互。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。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project develops a low-cost gateway for hands-on exploration and advances knowledge of Internet of things (IoT) fundamentals for educators and learners. The overarching goal of the project is to transform the current STEM landscape with an alternative, future-forward approach to designing connected devices, and to introduce a wide range of students to creative applications of complex technologies. Cyber-physical systems - commonly referred to as the Internet of things - are paving new information pathways and will soon become the foundation of all trades from medicine to publishing. These concepts need to be taught in a STEM curriculum but today are rarely even mentioned in a K-12 classroom. The end-product will help fulfill the NSF mission of preparing youth to lead scientific innovation and hold successful careers by building the technologies of the future. This Phase II project develops an unparalleled educational tool enabling users to build simple yet full-cycle IoT systems. The product exposes the underlying architecture of IoT and leads users through the concepts of electronics, collaborative coding, data security, and social impact. The main technical innovations are: 1) the design of small footprint, low-cost hardware with onboard communications components; and 2) the accompanying software platform that supports collaborative coding with multiple networked devices, while maintaining the highest level of security and privacy features to protect student data. Currently, IoT systems in the EdTech market have several layers of custom-built technology and outdated components. This project offers widely accessible hardware and software IoT building blocks with full functionality. Students will devise projects that activate objects remotely by giving them attributes, emotions, and behaviors. Additionally, they will gain awareness of the social implications of their projects, as they consider how the objects' attributes change and respond within the scope of a network and invent cause-and-effect interactions in an end-to-end IoT 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.