Increasing gender diversity in engineering using soft robotics

Background There is a well-known gender disparity in the engineering field. Three of the most important factors related to the participation of women in engineering are differences in perceived societal relevance, technical self-efficacy, and tinkering self-efficacy. Purpose/Hypothesis Soft robotics is a relatively new engineering application with the potential to address these three factors. We investigated whether participation in a soft robotics design experience would improve students'-especially girls'-perceptions of engineering in contrast to a traditional, rigid robotics experience. Design/Method Soft robotics curriculum materials were developed for high-school engineering classes using design-based research. Seven teachers delivered soft and rigid robotics lessons; then 293 students reported their perceptions of motivation, interest, and self-efficacy following the lessons and retrospectively. We examined the relationship between gender and lesson type and differences in perceptions of engineering over time. Results The soft and rigid robotics experiences promoted engineering interest and general, experimental, tinkering, and design self-efficacy. Girls' perceptions of tinkering self-efficacy particularly benefitted from the soft robotics lesson, mitigating gender differences. A robustness check compared the outcomes of different statistical models and verified the stability of the findings. Conclusions Soft robot design experiences emphasize materiality and iterative design, which contribute to enhanced tinkering self-efficacy. The use of soft robotics in education represents a promising opportunity to integrate authentic engineering experiences, broaden perceptions of engineering, and support the development of future engineers.