USC researchers have created a low-cost, accessible studying equipment to assist faculty and highschool college students construct their very own “robotic pal.” Picture/James Kim.

From sensible digital assistants and self-driving vehicles to digital well being and fraud prevention methods, AI expertise is reworking nearly each facet of our each day lives—and schooling isn’t any totally different. For all its promise, the rise of AI, like several new expertise, raises some urgent moral and fairness questions.

How can we be sure that such a strong instrument may be accessed by all college students no matter background? 

Impressed by this name to motion, USC researchers have created a low-cost, accessible studying equipment to assist faculty and highschool college students construct their very own “robotic pal.” College students can personalize the robotic’s “physique,” program the robotic to imitate their head posture, and find out about AI ethics and equity in an enticing, accessible method.

The system is printed in a brand new research, titled “Construct Your Personal Robotic Buddy: An Open-Supply Studying Module for Accessible and Participating AI Schooling,” introduced this week on the AAAI Convention on Synthetic Intelligence, schooling symposium observe.  

“We imagine it’s important for college students to find out about equity and ethics in AI in the identical method that we realized about math and physics in Ok-12,” stated co-lead creator Zhonghao Shi, a doctoral pupil in pc science who conducts his analysis within the USC Interplay Lab led by Professor Maja Matarić. “We could not use these topics day-after-day, however having a primary understanding of those ideas helps us do higher work and be aware of latest applied sciences.”  

Supported by the Nationwide Science Basis, the paper is co-lead-authored by Amy O’Connell, a USC pc science doctoral pupil and Shi’s labmate, and Zongjian Li, a software program engineer working with Mohammad Soleymani, a analysis affiliate professor at the USC Institute for Artistic Applied sciences. Soleymani and Matarić are co-authors, along with Man Hoffman from Cornell College, and USC pc science undergraduate college students Siqi Liu and Jennifer Ayissi. 

Members of the USC Interplay Lab and Professor Maja Matarić with custom-made variations of Blossom the robotic. Picture/James Kim.

Arms-on expertise

The three-part open-source studying module offers college students with hands-on expertise and introductory instruction about numerous features of AI, together with robotics, machine studying, software program engineering, and mechanical engineering. It helps to handle a niche available in the market for AI schooling, stated Shi and O’Connell.  

Presently, pre-built robots, such because the NAO, are unaffordable for colleges with restricted assets, whereas instructional robotic kits, reminiscent of LEGO Mindstorms, although inexpensive, don’t adapt to college students at totally different ranges.   

The NAO robotic, whereas generally present in analysis labs, is expensive, working at round $15,000.

“We’re proposing this open-source mannequin to not solely enhance schooling in AI for all college students but in addition to make human-interaction analysis extra inexpensive for labs and analysis establishments,” stated Shi. “In the end, we wish to enhance entry to human-centered AI schooling for faculty college students and create a pathway to extra accessible analysis.”

To cut back prices and growth time for learners, the staff custom-made and simplified Blossom, a small, open-source robotic initially developed by Hoffman at Cornell College. Blossom is a typical fixture in USC’s Interplay Lab—Shi beforehand used the robotic to design higher AI voices for mindfulness workouts, whereas O’Connell programmed it to behave as a “research buddy” for college students with ADHD signs.    

Final yr, the duo started to plot methods to make use of the robotic for instructional functions and set to work making a low-cost, customizable and “human-focused” module that might mirror a few of the ways in which college students will work together with expertise of their on a regular basis lives. 

USC pc science doctoral pupil Amy O’Connell and undergraduate pupil Jennifer Ayissi customise Blossom the robotic. Picture/James Kim.

To make the robotic extra inexpensive, they developed methods to subsidize its price. Within the model of Blossom introduced within the research, the supplies are created utilizing 3D printers, as an alternative of extra pricey laser printing.  Presently, one of many staff’s customizable robots prices round $250 to make. Compared, a NAO robotic runs at round $15,000. 

O’Connell, who realized to crochet in the course of the pandemic, designed 5 new Blossom exteriors and created detailed, easy-to-follow patterns and tutorials for every model, together with a child onesie, knitted and crocheted choices, that are all low-cost and customizable. 

“We wish to enhance entry to human-centered AI schooling for college students.” Zhonghao Shi. 

After setting up their robotic pal, college students are inspired to additional customise Blossom with, for example, mechanical eyebrows, color-changing lights, and even an expressive face display. For O’Connell, creativity has been an important a part of her personal engineering journey.  

“Crafting and engineering require comparable strengths like counting, planning, and spatial reasoning,” stated O’Connell. “By incorporating crafting into this mission, we hope to attract in inventive college students who may not have thought of how their expertise align with robotics and engineering.” 

Understanding ethics and equity  

The system was piloted in a 2-day workshop in Could 2023 with 15 undergraduate faculty college students from an area minority-serving establishment. 4 groups of scholars constructed Blossom robots following the training module meeting information with clean knitted exterior to personalize with equipment. On the second day, the scholars used pre-trained head pose monitoring and gesture recognition fashions to detect and mimic nodding behaviors from the person.

Partly one of many module, research members (anonymized) assemble a simplified model of the Blossom open-source robotic platform.

From post-workshop surveys, they discovered that 92% of the members believed that the workshop helped them be taught extra concerning the subjects lined and all of the members believed that the workshop inspired them to check extra about robotics and AI sooner or later.  

“Equipping customers with AI literacy, together with an understanding of AI ethics and equity, is essential to keep away from unintended discrimination in opposition to marginalized teams,” stated Shi.  

In continued work, the staff plans to additional consider and enhance the module for highschool college students and Ok-12 college students. In the end, the researchers hope to increase entry for college students at totally different instructional ranges. 

“We’re excited to share extra about our mission with individuals from world wide,” Shi stated. “We wish to be sure that individuals from totally different sorts of socioeconomic backgrounds have the chance to realize an schooling on AI and take part within the means of enhancing AI for future use.” 

Revealed on February twenty second, 2024

Final up to date on February twenty second, 2024