Making AI education more accessible

From smart virtual assistants and self-driving cars to digital health and fraud prevention systems, AI technology is changing nearly every aspect of our daily lives—and education is no different. For all its promise, the rise of AI, like any new technology, raises some important ethical and equity questions.

How can we ensure that all students, regardless of background, can access such a powerful tool?

Inspired by this call to action, USC researchers have created a low-cost, accessible learning kit to help college and high school students create their own “robot friend.” Students can personalize the robot’s “body,” program the robot to mimic their head posture, and learn about AI ethics and fairness in an engaging, accessible way.

“We are proposing this open-source model to not only improve education in AI for all students, but also to make human interaction research more affordable for labs and research institutions,” Shi said. “Ultimately, we want to expand access to human-centered AI education. College students and pave the way for more accessible research.”

To reduce cost and development time for learners, 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—She previously used the robot to design better AI voices for mindfulness exercises, while O’Connell calls it a “study” for students with ADHD symptoms. was programmed to act as “friend of

Last year, the pair began devising ways to use the robot for educational purposes and began working to create a low-cost, customizable and “human-focused” module that would reflect some of these approaches. Students will interact with technology in their daily lives. Life

This system is described in a new study, titled “Build Your Robot Friend: An Open Source Learning Module for Accessible and Engaging AI Education“, which appears on the preprint server. arXiv and Artificial Intelligence, presented at the AAAI Conference on Educational Symposium Track.

“We think it’s important for students to learn about fairness and ethics in AI in the same way we learned about math and physics in K-12,” said co-lead author Zhonghao Shi, a computer scientist. is a doctoral student in science. Research at the USC Interaction Lab led by Professor Maja Matarić.

“We may not use these subjects every day, but having a basic understanding of these concepts helps us work better and be mindful of new technologies.”

Hands-on experience

The three-part open source learning module provides students with hands-on experience and introductory instruction in various aspects of AI, including robotics, machine learning, software engineering, and mechanical engineering. Shi and O’Connell said this helps fill a gap in the market for AI education.

Currently, pre-built robots, such as NAO, are unaffordable for schools with limited resources, while educational robot kits, such as LEGO Mindstorms, although affordable, are not adapted to students at different levels.

To make the robot more affordable, they devised a strategy to subsidize its cost. In the version of Blossom presented in the study, the materials are made using 3D printers rather than more expensive laser printing. Currently, one of the team’s custom robots costs about $250. In comparison, a NAO robot runs about $15,000.

O’Connell, who learned to crochet during the pandemic, designed the five new Blossom Exteriors and created detailed, easy-to-follow patterns and tutorials for each version, including one for baby, knit and crochet. Options are included, all of which are low cost and customizable.

After their construction Robot Friends, students are encouraged to further customize Blossom with, for example, mechanical eyebrows, color-changing lights, or even an expressive face screen. For O’Connell, creativity has been an important part of his own engineering journey.

“Crafting and engineering require strengths such as calculation, planning, and spatial reasoning,” O’Connell said. “By incorporating craft into this project, we hope to attract creative students who might not have considered how their skills fit with robotics and engineering.”

Understanding ethics and fairness

The system was piloted in May 2023 in a two-day workshop with 15 undergraduate college students from a local minority-serving institution. Four teams of students built Blossom robots following the learning module assembly guide, with a blank exterior personalized with accessories. On the second day, the students used pre-trained head pose tracking and gesture recognition models to detect head nodding behaviors from the user.

From a post-workshop survey, they found that 92% of the participants believed that the workshop helped them learn more about the topics discussed and all participants believed that the workshop helped them learn more about robotics and AI in the future. Encouraged to study further.

“Equipping consumers with AI literacy, including an understanding of AI ethics and fairness, is critical to avoiding unintentional discrimination against disadvantaged groups,” Shi said.

In continued work, the team plans to further evaluate and improve the module. High school students and K-12 students. Ultimately, the researchers hope to expand access for students at different educational levels.

“We are excited to share more about our project with people around the world,” said Shi. “We want to ensure that people from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds have the opportunity to learn about AI and participate in the process of improving AI for future use.”