RET Site: Modern AI-Powered Robotics Research Experiences for Teachers

The field of robotics has experienced a remarkable transformation from its early, classical phase to its contemporary state, characterized by significant artificial intelligence (AI) advancements and expanded applications. Correspondingly, there is an increasing need for workforce development with the modern AI-powered robotics knowledge. This RET site at Colorado School of Mines will introduce key modules of modern AI-powered robotics technologies to high school teachers and community college instructors, who will adapt pre-prepared curricular modules for their student populations and courses, creating a significant impact on the introduction and integration of modern AI-powered robotics into the high school and community college curriculum. The experience will produce a lasting partnership among collaborating high schools, universities and industry to produce a highly skilled workforce poised to strengthen the Colorado advanced robotics industry. In addition, the site will generate new knowledge about how to best prepare teachers to instruct and guide students to develop AI-powered robotics solutions. The goal of the RET site is to prepare high school teachers and community college instructors to integrate modern AI-powered robotics into high school or community college science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum through Colorado School of Mines (CSM) faculty and graduate student research mentorship. The complexity of modern AI-powered robotics that merge computer vision, speech communication, and autonomous navigation can make its teaching and learning challenging for 9-12 and community college students. This RET site will use a modular, application-driven approach to break down and simplify these advanced concepts into independent modules and exposing teachers with these modules repeatedly in cutting edge robotics researches, such as robotic exoskeletons, bio-inspired dog robots, multi-finger robotic hands, swarm robots, and in various industrial applications, such as construction, mining, space, medical, and assistive living. These opportunities will provide teachers the knowledge and experience to educate students about the different career pathways and opportunities in future robotics industry and about the potential of AI-powered robotics as the new industrial revolution to impact individuals’ lives. Teachers will practice new content and research knowledge through micro-teaching and creating knowledge transfer through building cross-disciplinary connections. As a result, an innovative STEM curriculum will be created to enhance modern robotics knowledge in an approachable and translatable manner. The program will also include professional development activities and curriculum development opportunities for the use of the modern robotics technologies in the classroom. Follow-up academic year engagement between the teachers and CSM will include students in a robotics competition among participating schools and tours of CSM robotics labs, and guest lectures from industrial representatives to students in the classrooms. 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.