Board 147: Work-in-Progress: The Effect of Summarizing a Research Article on Students' Area of Robotics Interest

Siobhan Oca; Genevieve M. Lipp

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI) Poster Session
Tagged Division: Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42478
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42478
Download Count: 142

Genevieve Lipp received a B.S.E. in mechanical engineering from Duke University in 2010 and a Ph.D. in 2014 with a focus on nonlinear dynamical systems. She is an assistant professor of the practice in the department of electrical and computer engineering and the department of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University.

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Abstract

Background

The need for capable, ethical robotics engineers is growing with the industry valued at 32.32 billion in 2021 with anticipated growth of 12.1% from 2022 to 2030, and projected 17,900 mechanical engineering job openings each year. It is imperative that undergraduate and graduate programs prepare engineers for industry positions in robotics, and that they include and encourage diverse groups of students to enter the field.

One way universities expose students to robotics disciplines is through research experiences, For example, the NSF REU Sites program where undergraduates are supported as they do research projects at a host institution. Research experiences allow students to develop skills of synthesizing information and thinking about the state-of-the-art for a field. Generally, engineering students choose research topics based on their previous experience, especially when they are intrinsically motivated. We believe more exposure to cutting-edge research enables students to see themselves working in and understand their options for a career in robotics. Additionally, it is hypothesized that this impact may be larger for diverse students with less exposure to working and research opportunities in robotics outside of class.

While some research experiences require multiple months or semesters of student time commitment, we seek to understand whether a smaller intervention has an effect on robotics student preferences for specialized areas.

Methods

Participants in this study were from the only Introduction to Robotics course offered at Duke University (n=46). Participants ranged from third year undergraduates to first year graduate students.

The intervention in this experiment is assigning a research paper in a particular topic in robotics. Anecdotal feedback from previous semesters has indicated that students enjoy having multiple homework assignments throughout the semester when they are asked to look up a paper related to a particular field covered in the robotics class, e.g. finding a paper in the field of manipulation and mobility after a manipulation lecture. The hypothesis of this work is that the topic that is assigned would affect the students relative interest in the subject and in pursuing a job or internship in the field after the course has ended. During the semester, students were asked to look up papers of the same subject for the first half of the semester. In the second half of the semester, students were grouped into the topics of either motion planning or control when being asked to look up papers in the subject.

Students were asked three times during the semester (beginning, during midterm feedback, during final feedback) for their levels of interest in robotics areas (five-point Likert scale), specifically motion planning, control, human-robot interaction, and medical robotics. They were also asked if their interest in these topics leads them to pursue a post graduate job in this field, as many were in the job market for internships and full time positions. A demographic survey will also be distributed with the final feedback survey to gather data including education levels of the parents of participants and diversity characteristics. Expected results include having a measurable understanding of the effect of both giving research papers on their interest in a topic generally and for pursuing a potential career in the field. Anecdotal evidence suggests students enjoy the process of reading about aspects of robotics that are novel to the field, which we may not get to touch on in class, except through this exercise. Still, we cannot verify the full extent of how this intervention affects their interest relative to before the class. To assess this in the study, if there is sufficient parametric data, a paired t-test will be used to assess significance of the intervention. If the data are nonparametric, a single or paired sample sign test will be used to test the effect of the intervention and potential paired demographic effects of the intervention based on pre/post survey data.

Conclusions

Increasing the pipeline of diverse roboticists starts, in part, with impressionable experiences in introductory robotics classes. Assigning research paper reviews can help students understand the opportunities post-graduation in robotics and the challenges that are yet to be solved. The objective of this work is to measure the impact of a simple intervention that can be incorporated into homework assessment in many different styled classes in robotics.

Citation
Format

Oca, S., & Lipp, G. M. (2023, June), Board 147: Work-in-Progress: The Effect of Summarizing a Research Article on Students' Area of Robotics Interest Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42478

TY - CPAPER
AB - Background

The need for capable, ethical robotics engineers is growing with the industry valued at 32.32 billion in 2021 with anticipated growth of 12.1% from 2022 to 2030, and projected 17,900 mechanical engineering job openings each year. It is imperative that undergraduate and graduate programs prepare engineers for industry positions in robotics, and that they include and encourage diverse groups of students to enter the field.

One way universities expose students to robotics disciplines is through research experiences, For example, the NSF REU Sites program where undergraduates are supported as they do research projects at a host institution. Research experiences allow students to develop skills of synthesizing information and thinking about the state-of-the-art for a field. Generally, engineering students choose research topics based on their previous experience, especially when they are intrinsically motivated. We believe more exposure to cutting-edge research enables students to see themselves working in and understand their options for a career in robotics. Additionally, it is hypothesized that this impact may be larger for diverse students with less exposure to working and research opportunities in robotics outside of class.

While some research experiences require multiple months or semesters of student time commitment, we seek to understand whether a smaller intervention has an effect on robotics student preferences for specialized areas.

Methods

Participants in this study were from the only Introduction to Robotics course offered at Duke University (n=46). Participants ranged from third year undergraduates to first year graduate students.

The intervention in this experiment is assigning a research paper in a particular topic in robotics. Anecdotal feedback from previous semesters has indicated that students enjoy having multiple homework assignments throughout the semester when they are asked to look up a paper related to a particular field covered in the robotics class, e.g. finding a paper in the field of manipulation and mobility after a manipulation lecture. The hypothesis of this work is that the topic that is assigned would affect the students relative interest in the subject and in pursuing a job or internship in the field after the course has ended. During the semester, students were asked to look up papers of the same subject for the first half of the semester. In the second half of the semester, students were grouped into the topics of either motion planning or control when being asked to look up papers in the subject.

Students were asked three times during the semester (beginning, during midterm feedback, during final feedback) for their levels of interest in robotics areas (five-point Likert scale), specifically motion planning, control, human-robot interaction, and medical robotics. They were also asked if their interest in these topics leads them to pursue a post graduate job in this field, as many were in the job market for internships and full time positions. A demographic survey will also be distributed with the final feedback survey to gather data including education levels of the parents of participants and diversity characteristics.

Expected results include having a measurable understanding of the effect of both giving research papers on their interest in a topic generally and for pursuing a potential career in the field. Anecdotal evidence suggests students enjoy the process of reading about aspects of robotics that are novel to the field, which we may not get to touch on in class, except through this exercise. Still, we cannot verify the full extent of how this intervention affects their interest relative to before the class. To assess this in the study, if there is sufficient parametric data, a paired t-test will be used to assess significance of the intervention. If the data are nonparametric, a single or paired sample sign test will be used to test the effect of the intervention and potential paired demographic effects of the intervention based on pre/post survey data.

Conclusions

Increasing the pipeline of diverse roboticists starts, in part, with impressionable experiences in introductory robotics classes. Assigning research paper reviews can help students understand the opportunities post-graduation in robotics and the challenges that are yet to be solved. The objective of this work is to measure the impact of a simple intervention that can be incorporated into homework assessment in many different styled classes in robotics.
AU - Siobhan Oca
AU - Genevieve M. Lipp
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 147: Work-in-Progress: The Effect of Summarizing a Research Article on Students' Area of Robotics Interest
UR - https://peer.asee.org/42478
DO - 10.18260/1-2--42478
ER -

Board 147: Work-in-Progress: The Effect of Summarizing a Research Article on Students' Area of Robotics Interest

Paper Authors

Siobhan Oca Duke University orcid.org/0000-0002-1370-0036

Genevieve M. Lipp Duke University

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