From classroom Arduinos to missions on Mars: Making STEM education accessible and effective through remotely operated robotics

Computer programming skills are a critical necessity for today's students, but maintaining student interest in programming and engineering courses is challenging unless the theory is accompanied by engaging, hands-on applications. Additionally, many schools, especially those in underprivileged areas, lack the resources and personnel to develop or implement such applications. The Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), through the support of a NASA grant, has developed an integrated teaching program where students from middle school through the college levels can learn programming and robotic design from the most basic introductory level to advanced embedded computing, hardware and webpage design at little or no cost to the participating schools and with minimum burden to the teachers. The centerpiece of the program is the indoor “Mars Yard” which is a SIPI facility that allows remote operation of robots in an indoor environment to simulate remote space missions. Beginning with simple Arduino-based robot kits, students in the middle and high school levels are introduced to programming and robotics using an easy to follow curriculum. As they advance, students can remotely access the Mars Yard and perform pre-determined missions on real or simulated rovers. At the advanced high-school and college level, the students proceed to design, build, program and test their own robots and sensors and develop custom missions. The educational platform described in this paper is being implemented at SIPI and affiliated local high schools with tremendous results.