From smart virtual assistants and self-driving cars to digital health and anti-fraud systems, AI technology is transforming nearly every aspect of our daily lives, and education is no exception. Despite its promise, the rise of AI, like any new technology, raises some pressing ethical and fairness questions.
How can we ensure that such a powerful tool is accessible to all students, regardless of their background?
Inspired by this call to action, USC researchers created a low-cost, easy-to-access learning kit to help college and high school students create their own “robot friends.” Students can customize the robot's “body”, program it to mimic head posture, and learn about AI ethics and fairness in an engaging and accessible way.
“We are proposing this open-source model to not only improve AI education for all students, but also to make human interaction research more affordable for labs and research institutions,” said Shi. says Mr. “Ultimately, we want to increase access to human-centered AI education for university students and create more accessible paths to research.”
To reduce learner costs and development time, the team customized and simplified Blossom, a small open-source robot originally developed by Hoffman at Cornell University. Blossom is a common fixture in USC's Interaction Lab. Mr Shih had previously used the robot to design his AI voice better for mindfulness exercises, while Mr O'Connell said he was using it as a “study buddy” for students with ADHD symptoms. I have programmed this robot to work.
Last year, the pair began devising ways to use robots for educational purposes, creating low-cost, customizable “human-centered” modules that could reflect some of the ways students interact with technology in their daily lives. I have started. It is alive.
This system is outlined in a new study titled “Build Your Own Robot Friend: An Open-Source Learning Module for Accessible and Engaging AI Education,” presented this week at the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Education Symposium track. Masu.
“We believe it is important for students to learn about fairness and ethics in AI in the same way they learned about math and physics in K-12,” said co-first author. said Zhonhao Shi, a computer science doctoral student who conducted the research. Research at the University of Southern California Interaction Lab led by Professor Maya Matarić. “You may not use these subjects every day, but having a basic understanding of these concepts will help you do a better job and be aware of new technologies.”
Supported by the National Science Foundation, the paper was produced in collaboration with Amy O'Connell, a USC computer science doctoral student and Shi's lab mate, and Mohammad Soleymani, a research associate professor at USC. Zongjian Li, a software engineer with a background in research, is co-lead author. Creative Technology Institute. Soleimani and Matarić are co-authors, along with Cornell University's Guy Hoffman, his boyfriend Siqi Liu and his girlfriend Jennifer Ayissi, both USC computer science undergraduate students.
Hands-on experience
The three-part open source learning module provides students with hands-on experience and introductory instruction on various aspects of AI, including robotics, machine learning, software engineering, and mechanical engineering. This will help address a gap in the AI education market, Shi and O'Connell said.
Currently, pre-assembled robots such as NAO are out of reach for schools with limited resources. Additionally, although educational robot kits such as Lego Mindstorms are affordable, they are not adaptable to different levels of students.
To make the robot more affordable, they developed strategies to subsidize its cost. The version of Blossom introduced in the study uses a 3D printer to create the material, rather than more expensive laser printing. Currently, the cost to manufacture his one of the team's customizable robots is about $250. In comparison, the NAO robot costs about $15,000.
O'Connell, who learned to crochet during the pandemic, designed five new Blossom exteriors and created detailed, easy-to-follow patterns and tutorials for each version, including baby onesies, knit and crochet options. All of these are low cost and customizable.
After creating a robot friend, students are encouraged to further customize Blossom with things like mechanical eyebrows, color-changing lights, and even an expressive facial screen. For O'Connell, her creativity has been an important part of her own engineering journey.
“Crafts and engineering require similar strengths, such as counting, planning, and spatial reasoning,” O'Connell says. “By incorporating craft into this project, we hope to attract creative students who may have never thought about how their skills work together with robotics and engineering.”
Understand ethics and fairness
The system was piloted in May 2023 in a two-day workshop with 15 university students from local minority-serving institutions. Her four teams of students followed the learning module building guide to build her Blossom robot, which has a blank knitted exterior that can be customized with accessories. On the second day, students used pre-trained head posture tracking and gesture recognition models to detect and imitate users' nodding motions.
From the post-workshop survey, 92% of participants believed that the workshop helped them learn more about the topics covered, and all participants believed that the workshop inspired them to learn more about robotics and AI in the future. It turned out that there was.
“To avoid unintentional discrimination against marginalized groups, it is important to provide users with AI literacy, including an understanding of AI ethics and fairness,” Shi said.
In ongoing work, the team plans to further evaluate and improve modules for high school and K-12 students. Ultimately, the researchers hope to expand access for students at various educational levels.
“We are excited to share more about our project with people around the world,” Shi said. “We want to ensure that people from different socio-economic backgrounds have the opportunity to be educated about AI and participate in the process of improving it for future use.”
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