Contribution: This article presents an engineering outreach activity that aims to teach K-12 students how to develop a tendon-based soft robotic finger. The primary objectives of this STEM activity are to introduce students to the fundamentals of soft robotics, its interdisciplinary nature, and to offer them a hands-on and engaging learning…

Attracting K-12 students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is viewed as a critical element for benefiting both the economy and society. This paper describes an outreach program, conducted in a Brooklyn, New York, USA, public middle school, aimed at educating students in mechatronics, biology, and…

Educational robotics proposes the use of robots as a teaching resource that enables inexperienced students to approach topics in fields unrelated to robotics. In recent years, these activities have grown substantially in elementary and secondary school classrooms and also in outreach experiences to interest students in science, technology,…

This paper describes the experiences of using an advanced, low-cost robot in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. It presents three innovations: It is a powerful, cheap, robust, and small advanced personal robot; it forms the foundation of a problem-based learning curriculum; and it enables a novel multi-robot…

This paper presents an innovative two-course, laboratory-based, and design-oriented robotics educational model. The robotics curriculum exposed senior-level undergraduate students to major robotics concepts, and enhanced the student learning experience in hybrid learning environments by incorporating the IEEE Region-5 annual robotics competition…

This paper describes a newly designed upper-level undergraduate and graduate course, Autonomous Mobile Robots. The course employs active, cooperative, problem-based learning and is grounded in the fundamental computational problems in mobile robotics defined by Dudek and Jenkin. Students receive a broad survey of robotics through lectures, weekly…

An interdisciplinary undergraduate-level robotics course offers students the chance to integrate their engineering knowledge learned throughout their college years by building a robotic system. Robotics is thus a core course in system and control-related engineering education. This paper summarizes the experience of developing robotics courses…

This paper discusses an all-encompassing approach to increase the number of students in engineering through innovative outreach, recruiting, and retention programs. Prior to adopting these programs, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Oklahoma (OU), Norman, experienced a reduction in engineering enrollment…

This paper reports on a multifaceted approach in electrical engineering outreach focused on the area of semiconductor technology. The activities developed can be used in combination for a very wide range of audiences in both age and stage of education, as has been demonstrated with great success. Moreover, the project has developed…

Outreach, as defined by Wikipedia, is an effort by an organization or group to connect its ideas or practices to the efforts of other organizations, groups, specific audiences, or the general public. This paper describes a computer engineering outreach project of the Department of Computer Engineering at Ege University, Izmir, Turkey, to a local…

It is a global concern that the number of students in computing-related fields has been decreasing in the last few years. As a way to improve this situation, several institutions have been implementing programs to attract and keep students in science and technology majors. This work describes a high-performance computing (HPC) course intended for…

A set of outreach activities implemented by the College of Engineering of the Public University of Navarra, Spain, is described. They represent different initiatives aimed to improve recruitment of young engineers in the difficult context of declining interest in engineering and the educational changes Europe is facing nowadays. The initiatives…

The primary goal of engineering outreach is to attract prospective students to engineering education and the engineering profession. Gifted students, especially those identified as possessing unusually high abilities in science and technology, are especially promising students to attract to careers in engineering. It is critical to cultivate these…

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…

This paper describes key success factors for the implementation and development of a LEGO robotics engineering outreach program for elementary school students in West Texas. The outreach program not only aims at getting young students excited about engineering but at the same time aims at improving retention rates among electrical and computer…