This study conducted a systematic and thematic review on existing literature in robotics education using robotics kits (not social robots) for young children (Pre-K and kindergarten through 5th grade). This study investigated: (1) the definition of robotics education; (2) thematic patterns of key findings; and (3) theoretical and methodological traits. The results of the review present a limitation of previous research in that it has focused on robotics education only as an instrumental means to support other subjects or STEM education. This study identifies that the findings of the existing research are weighted toward outcome-focused research. Lastly, this study addresses the fact that most of the existing studies used constructivist and constructionist frameworks not only to design and implement robotics curricula but also to analyze young children's engagement in robotics education. Relying on the findings of the review, this study suggests clarifying and specifying robotics-intensified knowledge, skills, and attitudes in defining robotics education in connection to computer science education. In addition, this study concludes that research agendas need to be diversified and the diversity of research participants needs to be broadened. To do this, this study suggests employing social and cultural theoretical frameworks and critical analytical lenses by considering children's historical, cultural, social, and institutional contexts in understanding young children's engagement in robotics education.

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Research on early childhood robotics education often focuses narrowly on teaching young children STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) concepts and skills. In this qualitative case study, our research team examined what happened when we worked with young children (age 7) and combined the technologies of robotics education with an inquiry approach, that is, an opportunity for students to collaboratively identify a problem arising from their own lived experiences and build a robot to solve it. We found that the process of children’s problem identification was dialogic, not only with peers and teachers but also with materials, as they defined and refined problems based on interactions with peers and objects. As this study was conducted at an economically disadvantaged public school in the Southern United States, we argue that early childhood robotics education has a great potential to engage young children in STEM learning in a personally meaningful manner and that an instructional approach fostering children’s inquiry and project-based learning through their problem finding and problem posing is effective in making STEM accessible to students from diverse backgrounds.

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Using a 6-DOF robotic manipulator for material extrusion additive manufacturing (AM) enables conformal printing onto complex surfaces while orienting material fibers at desired directions. Compared to a traditional 3D printer, conformal printing can produce parts with good surface finish, less number of layers and enhanced mechanical properties. In this paper, we present a three-nozzle extrusion system which can be attached to a robot. This system allows the robot to achieve conformal 3D printing with multi-resolution. One extruder is for printing support materials and the other two extruders are for fabricating structural material with different resolutions. The interior regions of the part are fabricated with a bigger diameter nozzle and the surface of the part is printed with a smaller diameter nozzle. This multi-resolution printing not only speeds up the build times but also produces the good surface finish. In previous work, we demonstrated multi-resolution 3D printing using two robots. The contributions of this paper are design and fabrication of a three-nozzle extrusion system, calibration process for the system, and its validation. The validation of the calibration was done by printing linear and circular patterns using different nozzles, and evaluating relative dimensional accuracy. This work will enable a single robot to perform multi-resolution conformal 3D printing.