Science and Engineering Educational Outreach for K9-K12 Students

Michigan State University and Environmental Robots Teamed up to create an educational outreach for K9-K12 students in connection with ionic polymeric metal nanocomposites and artificial muscles and the outcome was the following paper presented at SPIE 2007 Smart Materials and Structures Conference/EAP Symposium in San Diego, California, March 18, 2007.

A Hands-on Paradigm for EAP Education: Undergraduates,

Pre-college Students, and Beyond

Xiaobo Tan, Drew Kim, Erik Goodman and Mohsen Shahinpoor

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA;

Office of Recruitment and K-12 Outreach, College of Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA;

Artificial Muscle Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA, and

Environmental Robots, Incorporated, 909 Virginia NE Suite 205, Albuquerque, NM 87108, USA

ABSTRACT

Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are receiving increasing interest from researchers due to their unique capabilities and numerous potential applications in biomimetic robots, smart structures, biomedical devices, and micro/nanomanipulation. Since these materials are relatively new, it is imperative to educate students and the general public to raise their awareness of EAP potentials and produce the talent pool needed for continuing, rapid advances in the field of EAPs. In this paper we describe our concerted effort in teaching EAP to undergraduates, grade school students, and the general public, through hands-on research and learning on EAP-based biomimetic robots. Two integrated activities are highlighted: A senior Capstone design program on EAP robots, and the subsequent programs that use these developed robots to reach out to pre-college students. A robotic fish and a sociable robot enabled by ionic polymer-metal composite materials are used as examples throughout the paper.

Click here to see the preprint of the paper in pdf.

Click here to see the video for fish swimming.