A Novel Education Program Using Autonomous Ground Vehicles to Develop STEM Skills

Abstract

This paper presents the implementation of a novel education program at Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México. The Tecquium program fights back the declining interest in STEM areas in teenagers and young adults. It employs novel education techniques as flipped classroom, gamification and problem-based learning during the participation of a Mexican team in an international programming and 1/10 autonomous vehicles racing competition. These techniques belong to the Tec21 model. There are two focus groups: high school and undergraduate. Each one of them aims to develop specific technical and social skills. The continuous development of knowledge in AGVs demand a state- of-the-art platform capable of running high demanding calculations and movement. Sensing, sensor fusion, data processing, ML, AI and path planning algorithms form the basis of the program's curriculum. More than twenty students have been reached. Results show the effectivity of this program as there is a bigger interest in participating in STEM related activities in high schoolers and a higher commitment in undergraduate students doing research.