SBIR Phase I: A Novel Experiential Learning Toy Teaching Robotics and Automation to K-12 Students

This SBIR Phase I project is to raise awareness and enthusiasm for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education among young children through experiential learning enabled by novel and interactive robotic toys. U.S. Department of Labor's recent survey reports that only 5% of U.S. workers are employed in science and engineering fields, yet they are responsible for more than 50% of the sustained economic expansion. Over the past few decades the U.S. contribution to the number of scientists and engineers worldwide has reduced from 40% to 15%. Interestingly, there is a high interest among young students for the STEM fields but approximately 40% of them end up switching to non-STEM careers by the time they graduate from college - according to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. This project brings a radical change in this trend by aptly stimulating the curiosity and challenging the intelligence, the key catalysts for continued interest, in K-12 students. Through innovative and intelligent hardware and software modules, this project delivers an enhanced learning experience on next generation robotics and automation technologies in the classroom as well as at home, leading towards a much richer and secure prospect for the future tax payers. This SBIR Phase I project develops an interactive and reconfigurable robotics-learning system comprised of smart positioning modules and interconnects. The key innovations include: a zero nuts-and-bolts architecture for quick and easy system setup, distributed artificial intelligence for interactive plug-n-play operations, and personalized gaming and learning feature to engage different age groups, experience levels, and study areas. This gaming and learning system aids in understanding various concepts of new age manufacturing, shaped by rapidly evolving economic constraints, including but not limited to: challenges in flexible/lean manufacturing for low cost and rapid turnaround production; effects of source agnostic automation, where robots/tools from different manufacturers are combined, on overall manufacturing metrics; and difficulties associated with robot cooperative control with limited feedback in complex operations. Such knowledge, gained through hands-on learning, better prepares the future scientists and engineers to not only adapt in the highly demanding manufacturing environment of the future but also explore innovative solutions to complex technical problems. This project envisions to significantly surpass the learning experience offered by contemporary educational toys, including passive building sets, jigsaw puzzles, rule-based interactive toys and so on, by delivering a highly immersed, actively encouraging, and truly exploratory experience for the makers of tomorrow.