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Build Your Own Robot Friend: An Open-Source Learning Module for Accessible and Engaging AI Education
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Presents an open-source, affordable (under $300) learning module in which college and high school students build a simplified, 3D-printed Blossom social robot and learn AI/ML, human-centered AI, and AI ethics, evaluated in a two-day workshop with 15 college students.
Problem
Current AI curricula are not accessible, affordable, or engaging enough for students from all socio-economic backgrounds, and they rarely cover human-centered AI and AI ethics.
Approach
Adapts the Blossom open-source social robot into a simplified 3D-printed kit (63 to 20 components) with multiple cover designs and tutorials, and wraps it in a three-part curriculum covering robotics, a CelebA smiling classifier with fairness metrics, and a head-pose imitation HRI program using OpenSense.
Key results
- Two-day usability workshop with 15 college students (13 survey respondents) at a minority-serving institution; 92% agreed the workshop helped them learn about robotics/electronics, CS, AI/ML, and mechanical engineering (median Strongly Agree, p<.002).
- 85% said the learning process was easy to follow (median Strongly Agree, p=.0009).
- 100% said the workshop encouraged them to study robotics and AI in the future (median Strongly Agree, p=.0001).
Measured effects reported in the paper
| What was changed | Where | Measured | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use the learning module to teach robotics/electronic engineering | College students in the two-day workshop · Two-day workshop | believed workshop helped learn robotics/electronic engineering: 92% | Helped |
| Use the learning module to teach computer science/software engineering | College students in the two-day workshop · Two-day workshop | believed workshop helped learn computer science/software engineering: 92% | Helped |
| Use the learning module to teach AI/ML | College students in the two-day workshop · Two-day workshop | believed workshop helped learn AI/ML: 92% | Helped |
| Use the learning module to teach mechanical engineering | College students in the two-day workshop · Two-day workshop | believed workshop helped learn mechanical engineering: 92% | Helped |
| Use the learning module with its tutorials and workshop activities | College students in the two-day workshop · Two-day workshop | process was easy-to-follow: 85% | Helped |
| Use the learning module to encourage further study | College students in the two-day workshop · Two-day workshop | encouraged future study of robotics and AI: 100% | Helped |
| Simplify the original Blossom design for 3D printing | Blossom robot · Blossom robot | number of fabricated components: 63 to 20 | Helped |
| Use the modified Blossom robot with parts printed at scale | Blossom robot · Blossom robot | estimated cost: under $250 | Helped |
Limitations
- Only Parts 1 and 3 were evaluated in the workshop; Part 2 (ML and fairness) was not evaluated.
- Small sample of 15 participants from a single minority-serving institution, with 13 survey responses.
- No evaluation with high school students.
Experimental setup
Datasets: CelebA CIFAR10
Metrics: 5-point Likert perceived usability one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test
Builds on: Blossom robot OpenSense PyTorch tutorial
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