How to bring a robot to life: hassle-free programming

• Grant number: 24/00583-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Journalism
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science
• Principal Investigator: José Alberto Cuminato
• Grantee: Lélio Marcos Rangel Cunha
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07375-0 - CeMEAI - Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry, AP.CEPID

Abstract

This journalistic research will be carried out as part of the education and dissemination activities of the Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry (CeMEAI), under the coordination of the researcher José Alberto Cuminato. Based at the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences (ICMC) at USP, in São Carlos, CeMEAI is one of the Research, Innovation and Diffusion Centers (CEPID) supported by FAPESP. Since it began its activities in 2013, the Center has sought to disseminate knowledge and promote advances in the pedagogical, technological and social spheres, looking for new and better mechanisms to support teaching and learning through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The application of these technologies can favor the development and consolidation of teaching and learning environments that offer new ways of thinking, learning, and teaching mathematics, engineering, and computing concepts, improving the quality of Brazilian education, and contributing to more children and young people feel attracted to careers in these areas. Therefore, among the education projects supported by CeMEAI are outreach courses to encourage students and teachers in primary, secondary, and technical education to learn how to build robots and program them. To expand the reach of the educational content taught in these courses, enabling more children and young people to have access to this type of knowledge, the Scientific Journalism-1 scholarship holders of this project aim to produce collections of short videos for social media. Given the scarcity of materials and the growing demand for learning robotics in basic education, the production of more communication content is urgent and can contribute to increasing interest and participation in scientific competitions such as the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad.