REU Site: Research experiences for undergraduates in autonomous unmanned vehicles for environmental monitoring and sampling in a changing climate (REU-AUV)

This three-year REU Site: Research experiences for undergraduates in autonomous unmanned (REU-AUV) is hosted by the University of Idaho. Autonomous unmanned vehicles (AUVs), including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs such as drones), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs such as ground robots), and unmanned surface vehicles (USV such as drone boats) are one of the emerging technologies impacting all industry sectors, including the military, precision agriculture, transportation, law enforcement, and insurance businesses.

Ten students each year can participate in a 10-week hands-on experience featuring autonomous unmanned vehicles. REU participants will acquire foundational knowledge in automatic control, sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotic swarm technologies while incorporating their cultural experiences and values in problem-solving techniques by leveraging engineering self-efficacy for potential STEM careers.

REU students will identify real-world problems and develop a question for information gathering from their perspectives. Participants will complete an online course where they build, code, and deploy a prototype of open-source drones to explore technical solutions for real-world problems. For the rest of the summer, students will complete team projects on-site using AUV platforms and exploring career options.

Drawing from multiple disciplines including agricultural engineering, civil and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering, participants will engage in cutting edge research and investigate how these emerging technologies impact current and future societal challenges. One example is the use of autonomous unmanned vehicles, encompassing aerial, ground, and surface platforms, and their increasingly vital role for environmental monitoring and sampling.

The program will also examine how undergraduate students build self-efficacy by examining how student perceptions and behaviors toward emerging technologies are shaped during the program. multidisciplinary engineering approach to solve real-world problems across rural Idaho. The online and in-person learning activities will address the following: understanding the basic federal regulation and safety guidelines for drone operations (e.g., safe drone flights at the national airspace); exploring the fast-moving technology, such as smartphone sensors for 3D modeling by controlling devices using visualization technology; brainstorming research ideas to solve real-world problems with peers; and completing an online leadership training based around cooperative learning and team-based leadership principles to aid in the process of group collaboration.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.