SBIR/STTR Award attributes
PROJECT SUMMARY Understanding the brain is a profound and fascinating challenge, captivating the scientific community and the public alike. The lack of effective treatment for most brain disorders makes training the next generation of neuroscientists, engineers and physicians a key concern. However, much neuroscience is perceived to be too difficult to be taught in school. To make neuroscience accessible and engaging to students and teachers, Backyard Brains is developing SpikerBots: fun and affordable robots that look like brains and are controlled by computer simulations of biological brains. The SpikerBots and associated software and curriculum require no background in neuroscience or programming, and allow students to investigate meaningful questions about mind, brain and behavior by designing artificial brains that make the robots’ behavior life-like, sensory-guided and goal-directed. These brain design exercises engage students in active, project-based learning, which has been shown to improve STEM outcomes, especially among disadvantaged students. In Phase I, we showed that SpikerBots with camera-eyes, microphone-ears, speakers, 2-wheel drive and WiFi, controlled by spiking neural networks simulated on laptops, enabled 295 high school students participating in a 1-week workshop to learn neuroscience concepts, solve brain design challenges, and develop self-confidence in neuroscience. In Phase II, we will (1) develop production-ready SpikerBot hardware that reduces costs and improves durability, (2) design a cloud-based application for cross-platform functionality on low-cost laptops, and (3) develop a curriculum and set of teacher onboarding materials, including recurring teacher workshops, held at 3 science museums, on employing inquiry-based learning to teach effectively using the SpikerBot. Education researchers at Purdue University will continue to conduct evaluation of students’ and teachers’ experiences and learning gains. We intend to sell our neurorobots directly to customers, and through our education channel partners at a price of $150 per robot. While the SpikerBot is designed for secondary education, primary and higher education sectors as well as individuals and families can also benefit from the technology. Our long-term aim is to encourage education policy makers to adopt more neuroscience science standards by demonstrating an effective neuroscience curriculum organized around biological and computational concepts that embrace the philosophy of the Next Generation Science Standards. By combining neuroscience, a multidisciplinary field that spans biology, medicine, psychology, mathematics, and engineering, with robotics and active, project-based learning, our SpikerBot and curriculum will improve STEM-education and inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and physicians.
