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Robots in the Classroom : A Platform for Driving Interest in the Science , Technology , Engineering and Math Disciplines

There are many good reasons to use robotics in the classroom: They are excellent examples of engineered systems, they can be used to motivate a wide variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics, and they can cut across gender and race gaps to excite a large population of students. This paper presents my literature review results on this topic. My main discovery for the effective use of robots in the classroom is that there are really only two requirements. First is the hardware requirement and the second is the corresponding curriculum. The hardware requirements describe the minimal capabilities that the robotic system must have. The corresponding curriculum is then coupled with the robotic platform to provide classroom lessons, exercises and projects. The hardware requirements dictate that the robot needs to be designed as an advanced personal robot (Balch et. al. 2008, Kumar et. al. 2008, McLurkin et al. 2013). This is a design that has powerful sensors and abilities, but is cheap enough, robust enough, and small enough to survive many semesters in a student’s backpack. See Table 1 for a listing of current robot systems with their corresponding capabilities and cost. As you can see there are several robot systems in existence with varying levels of capabilities and at varying price points. The second aspect is that the robot forms the foundation of a robot-based curriculum emphasizing hands-on homework assignments and design-challenges that engage students more fully than traditional homework (Radenski 2006).