Agricultural Robotics and Automation Technologies

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a new, industry and college-driven robotics and automation technician curriculum for secondary and two-year college students. The project will also include professional development for teachers which will be developed and aligned with the curriculum. The project will meet a documented industry need for increased numbers of qualified technicians nationwide with robotic competencies to work in both urban and isolated, rural areas. The significance and importance of this project will be reflected in the impact of the project to (1) meet current, pressing workforce needs in agriculture technologies and (2) enable students to potentially gain college credit or concurrent or articulated enrollment with 2- and 4-year institutions. The project will meet the mission of NSF and the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program to advance, define, and disseminate the knowledge and skills that expand the progress of science knowledge and applications. The scope of this project is to prepare students for existing and emerging agricultural technology fields. With input from industry, secondary teachers, and post-secondary faculty, the goals of the project are: (1) to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate three agricultural modules with student assessment that will increase the number of students who are skilled robotics and automation technicians and ready for the workforce or post-secondary education; (2) to develop a model of professional development for teachers to implement the modules; and (3) to provide direction and support to bridge the divides between secondary and post-secondary agricultural science education and the workforce which includes developing micro-credentials for the modules. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation’s economy. 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.