Speculative Robot Design for a Sustainable Future in 8th Grade

By Intermediate and Middle School STEM and Coding Teacher Adam Colestock

Eighth graders recently concluded a science project that challenged them to exercise their creative imaginations and envision technologies that could help shape a more sustainable future for our global community.

 

First, students learned about the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. Adopted in 2015 by all United Nations Member States, the SDGs provide a common framework for identifying and measuring progress on important challenges that the world faces. They are a “universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.” After a brief introduction and overview of the different goals, students selected a particular goal that resonated with them to focus on in more depth.

 

Next, students learned about some general design principles and advancements in the fields of robotics engineering and AI. They each investigated an existing robot design, analyzed its purpose and function and shared what they learned with their classmates. Then, through some additional online resources, they discovered more about robotics and AI covering a range of topics, including computer vision, machine learning, sensors, actuators, 3D printing and more.

Finally, students narrowed their general focus for the project from the general SDG they selected to a specific problem to address. They developed a design proposal for a technology incorporating advances in automation, AI and robotics that might help contribute to solving their problem. They created a vision board for their design proposal that communicated the nature of the problem in the form of a “How might we…” question, provided evidence for the problem and outlined their proposed solution.

 

Students reflected on their proposals and considered the potential positive and negative trade-offs that come with any emerging technology. They also thought about the wide range of people with diverse skills necessary to not only invent the technology but also make sure to deploy and implement that technology responsibly and sustainably.

Examples of the problems they tackled through their “How might we…” questions are below, and proposed designs addressing these problems are available here.