The Development of the PaperBots Robotics Kit for Inexpensive Robotics Education Activities for Elementary Students.
O'Connell, Brian.
2013
-
Abstract: In this
thesis, I describe an electronics kit that enables robotic education activities that
make use of readily available classroom materials. The developed product, PaperBots
Robotics Kit, opens up accessibility to robotics education for users who formerly could
not afford many of the available options. The design considers cost for the intended
stakeholders, teachers, and usability ... read morefor the end users, students, as well as test group
feedback and production. This tool kit enables students to build their robot utilizing
paper, cardstock, craft sticks, tape, straw and other craft materials common to a
classroom. The controller is an Arduino based development board that is programmable by
either the Arduino environment or with LabVIEW. Test groups of kindergarten to six grade
students successfully constructed robots using paper, craft materials, and the PaperBots
Robotics Kit. They were able to intuitively construct with the materials and the kit and
program their robots using a provided LabVIEW interface. The participants also enjoyed
their experiences with the product while gaining some experience in engineering
principles. The first two design iterations of the PaperBots Robotics Kit and their
subsequent testing are described in this report along with suggestions for further
development of the product.
Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2013.
Submitted to the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.
Advisor: Brian O'Connell.
Committee: Chris Rogers, Daniel Hannon, and Ethan Danahy.
Keywords: Educational technology, Robotics, and Mechanical engineering.read less - ID:
- wm118102h
- Component ID:
- tufts:21972
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
