Leveraging Cost-effective Robotics for K-12 STEM Education through Water Quality Monitoring Tasks

Abstract:Engaging K-12 students in authentic scientific research remains a significant challenge, particularly at the intersection of environmental science and robotics. We introduce the Jar Jar ROV, a low-cost, open-source Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) platform designed for citizen science-based water quality monitoring by middle school students. This paper presents the design of the platform and the results of a large-scale deployment with over 100 students across a US state who built, programmed, and deployed the ROVs in local lakes. The educational framework yielded high student engagement in hands-on activities, with ROV construction earning a perfect average score from mentors. Scientifically, the program established a grassroots monitoring network, generating nearly eleven thousand validated measurements of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. However, our evaluation identified a critical "engagement gap," with student interest declining sharply during more complex tasks such as electronics assembly and data uploading. This paper contributes both a validated, scalable model for integrating robotics into environmental education and a data-driven roadmap for future improvements. These enhancements focus on lowering technical barriers and creating a more intuitive link between data collection and scientific discovery, addressing a key challenge in empowering the next generation of citizen scientists.

Robotics (cs.RO); Computers and Society (cs.CY)

arXiv:2610.04565 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2610.04565v1 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.04565 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Vienna, Austria, 2026, pp. 4643-4650

https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA57385.2026.11696593 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources

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