Find That Plane!: Evaluation of a High School Summer Science and Engineering Camp Introducing Robotics to Simulate the Search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 (Works in Progress)

Find That Plane!: Evaluation of a High School Summer Science and Engineering Camp Introducing Robotics to Simulate the Search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370Each summer is one of several university host sites throughout for a four-week summer science and engineering enrichment camp for academicall...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAssociation for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers p. 26.774.1
Main Authors Castles, Ricky T, Zhu, Zhen
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Atlanta American Society for Engineering Education-ASEE 14.06.2015
Subjects
Airlines
Anomalies
Circuits
Colleges & universities
Computer programming
Computer simulation
Data collection
Engineering
Helicopters
Man-machine interfaces
Microcontrollers
Object recognition
Ocean floor
Parallax
Pattern recognition
Prostheses
Research projects
Robotics
Robots
Searching
STEM education
Students
Technical education
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Summary:Find That Plane!: Evaluation of a High School Summer Science and Engineering Camp Introducing Robotics to Simulate the Search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370Each summer is one of several university host sites throughout for a four-week summer science and engineering enrichment camp for academically gifted highschool juniors and seniors. During the first two weeks of the camp experience students engagein interactive research projects in two or three STEM fields. Upon completion of the first twoweeks of the program students then choose to conduct an in-depth research project in one of thedisciplines they have been studying during the final two weeks of the program.In 2014, the engineering portion of this camp was team taught by a pair of electrical engineeringfaculty members assisted by undergraduate research assistants. It utilized the Parallax Boe Botrobot with a Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller to introduce the students to several STEM conceptssuch as computer programming, circuit development and analysis, sensor-driven control logic,data collection and storage, and pattern recognition, all within the context of the search for themissing Malaysian Airlines plane. Students learned how to navigate a course, avoid otherrobots, create a simulated map of the ocean floor using depth sensors, and detect objects ofinterest that may be the missing plane. The overall search and discovery methodology wasintroduced through various short tasks and concluded with students using mobile robots toexamine a simulated ocean floor to identify anomalies indicative of areas of interest that may bethe missing plane.During the final two weeks of the program, seven students conducted in-depth engineeringresearch projects including development of an EEG-based brain-machine interface to controlmobile robots, simulation of a prosthetic hand, automated routing of materials for supply chainmanagement, and development of a quad-rotor helicopter, all of which involved microcontrollersand intensive programming.Details of the course modules are presented including logistical considerations, shortcomings,and lessons learned. The details of each research project are also discussed showcasing broaderimplications for the research.
DOI:10.18260/p.24111