Use of Robotic Platforms as a Tool to Support STEM and Physical Education in Developed Countries: A Descriptive Analysis.

The lack of interest of children at school is one of the biggest problems that Mexican education faces. Two important factors causing this lack of interest are the predominant methodology used in Mexican schools and the technology as a barrier for attention. The methodology that institutions have followed has become an issue because of its very traditional approach, with the professor giving all the theoretical material to the students while they listen and memorize the contents, and, if we add the issue of the growing access to technological devices for students, children carrying a phone are more likely to be distracted. This study aims to integrate technology through assistive robots as a beneficial tool for educators, in order to improve the attention span of students by making the learning process in multiple areas of the Mexican curriculum more dynamic, therefore obtaining better results. To prove this, four different approaches were implemented; three in elementary schools and one in higher education: the LEGO® robotic kit and the NAO robot for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching, the NAO robot for physical education (PE), and the PhantomX Hexapod, respectively. Each of these technological approaches was applied by considering both control and experimental groups, in order to compare the data and provide conclusions. Finally, this study proves that the attention span is indeed improved as a result of implementing robotic platforms during the teaching process, allowing the children to become more motivated during their PE class and become more proactive and retain more information during their STEM classes.

The impact of national culture in the development of complexity reasoning skills: An international comparison.

There is a clear inequality in gender distribution for the STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Furthermore, there is a noticeable lack of diversity and a socio-economic gap that requires actionable solutions. To explore potential factors that affect the participation of women in STEM, this paper reviews two possible groups of determinants: national culture and complexity thinking. A survey with 684 respondents from higher education institutions in Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Spain was undertaken. The instrument measured four components of complexity thinking namely critical, scientific, innovative, and systemic). Using analysis of variance between two groups and between multiple groups, differences were observed between the countries' samples and between genders. Once the significance was confirmed, boxplots for each dimension were elaborated to facilitate the visualization of the distributions. The scores were compared with the national culture values to seek possible behavioral patterns in the data. The results reveal two groups between the observed countries. Also, there are clear indications of a relationship between the national culture dimensions and the complex thinking components.

Low limb prostheses and complex human prosthetic interaction: A systematic literature review.

A few years ago, powered prostheses triggered new technological advances in diverse areas such as mobility, comfort, and design, which have been essential to improving the quality of life of individuals with lower limb disability. The human body is a complex system involving mental and physical health, meaning a dependant relationship between its organs and lifestyle. The elements used in the design of these prostheses are critical and related to lower limb amputation level, user morphology and human-prosthetic interaction. Hence, several technologies have been employed to accomplish the end user's needs, for example, advanced materials, control systems, electronics, energy management, signal processing, and artificial intelligence. This paper presents a systematic literature review on such technologies, to identify the latest advances, challenges, and opportunities in developing lower limb prostheses with the analysis on the most significant papers. Powered prostheses for walking in different terrains were illustrated and examined, with the kind of movement the device should perform by considering the electronics, automatic control, and energy efficiency. Results show a lack of a specific and generalised structure to be followed by new developments, gaps in energy management and improved smoother patient interaction. Additionally, Human Prosthetic Interaction (HPI) is a term introduced in this paper since no other research has integrated this interaction in communication between the artificial limb and the end-user. The main goal of this paper is to provide, with the found evidence, a set of steps and components to be followed by new researchers and experts looking to improve knowledge in this field.

A systematic mapping literature review of education around sexual and gender diversities.

Education around sexual and gender identities is highly important to understand diversity and prevent discrimination, violence, and even murder. Nevertheless, educational institutions around the world are lacking a curriculum that explicitly includes diversity and acknowledges the LGBTQ+ community, a minority that over the years has been facing consequences from this exclusion. This study presents a detailed description of the process applied to analyze the studies using a systematic mapping literature review, as well as the positive results found from those educational institutions that started their path to inclusion around sexual and gender diversities through their curricula. The research questions targeted in this work are: What is being taught in educational institutions regarding sexual and gender diversities? What are the approaches used inside the classrooms to teach sexual and gender diversities? Which students are receiving education regarding sexual and gender diversities? Is there a technological approach and/or tool used to teach sexual and gender diversities? After applying the filtering processes, 69 studies were selected from five different online libraries: ACM, DOAJ, Lens.org, SCOPUS, and SpringerLink. The conclusions made from the findings of this review are that those studies that do tackle concerns around the topic have proven to benefit the LGBTQ+ community, the education around sexual and gender diversities predominates within the healthcare field, there are a lack of studies around this topic in Latin American countries, and technological tools are minimally used during the teaching processes.

Traits of Complex Thinking: A Bibliometric Review of a Disruptive Construct in Education.

The purpose of this research is to contextualize the behavior of publications on complex thinking in education. A total of 428 documents compiled in Scopus from 1937 to 2022 were analyzed with a bibliometric study considering criteria such as "complex thinking", "complex thought", and "reasoning for complexity", all combined with education. The results show 153, 47, and 5 publications for each criterion with their related disciplines, citations, types of documents, universities, prominent authors, researching countries, and the general diachronic evolution of the subject, this allows to establish an idea about the implications of the present study according to one of the most important databases in the world. It is concluded that complex thinking and its relationship with education awakens a greater interest in the academy, not only because of its incidence in diverse fields that are nourished by it for the generation of new multidisciplinary knowledge but also because of the published research that demonstrates its transcendence.

Implementation of NAO Robot Maze Navigation Based on Computer Vision and Collaborative Learning.

Maze navigation using one or more robots has become a recurring challenge in scientific literature and real life practice, with fleets having to find faster and better ways to navigate environments such as a travel hub, airports, or for evacuation of disaster zones. Many methodologies have been explored to solve this issue, including the implementation of a variety of sensors and other signal receiving systems. Most interestingly, camera-based techniques have become more popular in this kind of scenarios, given their robustness and scalability. In this paper, we implement an end-to-end strategy to address this scenario, allowing a robot to solve a maze in an autonomous way, by using computer vision and path planning. In addition, this robot shares the generated knowledge to another by means of communication protocols, having to adapt its mechanical characteristics to be capable of solving the same challenge. The paper presents experimental validation of the four components of this solution, namely camera calibration, maze mapping, path planning and robot communication. Finally, we showcase some initial experimentation in a pair of robots with different mechanical characteristics. Further implementations of this work include communicating the robots for other tasks, such as teaching assistance, remote classes, and other innovations in higher education.