Control Engineering and Robotics since Primary School: an Infrastructure for creating the Digital Twin model of the Learning Class.

Abstract

Control engineering has a cross-boundary nature because its applications span over a wide range of fields, among which science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Creating an automation literacy from the Primary School's age is beneficial for pupils because it supports the development of valuable skills that allow the comprehension and analysis of real-world phenomena. Even if many researchers and policymakers have advocated for engineering education since early education, it is usually kept for undergraduate and graduate-level education. What prevents systems theory and control education from being integrated into K12 education is the lack of available educational resources and the lack of indicators to represent the learning gain of students. To help teachers in the latter aspect, a solution can be studying the entire process as a cyber-physical human system (CPHS). The paper consists of a brief report about the work carried out by authors to represent the entire classroom as a CPHS where the physical robots designed by students, humans (teachers and learners), and cybertechnologies are interconnected to accomplish a goal which is learning. The entire infrastructure could be seamlessly deployed into the classroom, supporting learning assessment and the feedback process starting from the deployment of a (quasi) real-time intelligent collection system.