NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ898852
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Feb
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0018-9359
EISSN: N/A
Robotics-Centered Outreach Activities: An Integrated Approach
Ruiz-del-Solar, Javier
IEEE Transactions on Education, v53 n1 p38-45 Feb 2010
Nowadays, universities are making extensive efforts to attract prospective students to the fields of electrical, electronic, and computer engineering. Thus, outreach is becoming increasingly important, and activities with schoolchildren are being extensively carried out as part of this effort. In this context, robotics is a very attractive and effective tool for fostering interest in science and technology among children and young people and for attracting them toward engineering. In this article, experience with different robotics-centered outreach activities in the Universidad de Chile (UCH), Santiago, Chile, will be shared. These activities include robotics courses for children, social robots as keynote speakers, mechatronics design courses, and participation in international robotics competitions, which contribute synergistically to the goal of attracting students to UCH's Electrical Engineering (EE) Department. Owing to its novelty, the use of social robots as keynote speakers for schoolchildren will be described in detail. Experimental results that demonstrate how sophisticated social robots can be used to foster the interest of young people in technology will be shown. Altogether, more than 3000 schoolchildren have participated directly in these outreach activities here in Chile, creating a sizeable impact in this country. (Contains 4 footnotes, 3 tables, and 2 figures.)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Tel: 732-981-0060; Web site: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=13
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Chile (Santiago)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A