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NEED: Automated systems are found everywhere in our daily lives. Designing, building, and maintaining automated systems is a complex task requiring knowledge of hardware and software, and how to interface components such as sensory devices and controllers. Often engineering students and new engineers lack a system level perspective of automated systems and how each component contributes to a system. This project aims to serve the national interest by creating, implementing, and evaluating technology-based tools that help undergraduate students and new engineers learn to integrate automated systems. GUIDING QUESTIONS: The proposed effort will advance knowledge about how learners acquire system integration problem solving skills. Guiding questions include 1) To what extent can an integrated and web-based problem-solving environment (I-PSE) for automated system integration alleviate challenges in learning about automated system integration? 2) To what extent does the I-PSE improve learner self-efficacy with respect to automated system integration knowledge such as programming and interfacing? 3) Which aspects of the I-PSE design are most effective and why? OUTCOMES: The developed system, known as the Automated System Integration Tutor (ASI Tutor), includes animations, interactive practice, case studies, and lab exercises. It has been evaluated by about 300 students over the past two years, and the results have been positive overall. Pre- and post-test results strongly suggest that the ASI Tutor modules have a positive impact on student learning. In addition, self-efficacy survey results suggest that the experience of using ASI Tutor has a strong positive impact on learners’ self-efficacy related to robot interfacing and robot and PLC interfacing. Based on student comments, the features that contribute most to learning how to interface automated system components include 1) the ability to visualize how interfacing should work through the schematic diagrams and animations; 2) ability to interact with the module through the wiring exercise; and 3) opportunities for increased practice. BROADER IMPACTS: Recent studies by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute note that the U.S. faces a need for nearly 2.4 million manufacturing positions to be filled by 2028. Intelligent problem-solving environments such as ASI Tutor can help students to develop system integration skills reliably and efficiently. Because ASI Tutor is web-based and self-contained, it can be used in both academic and industry contexts. College and university faculty use it as a teaching and learning resource for automation-related courses. In industry, it is relevant to engineers who work in companies that are end-users of automated systems, designers of automated machines and systems, and manufacturers of equipment used in automated systems. The ability to rapidly design or reconfigure automated systems to accommodate change is critical to maintaining our national economic competitiveness and security. Ultimately, this project will make it possible for students and new engineers to access instructional support as they need it, thus potentially shortening the time needed to develop system integration expertise and better preparing students for success in industrial automation-related careers.
