Course Title: AI in the Wild: The Ultimate Sandbox for Real-World Problem Solving
Course Overview:
The national mandate for AI education is clear, but its execution is fundamentally flawed. We are teaching our students to build artificial intelligence in sterile, digital sandboxes, using clean data to solve problems that have already been solved. This is like teaching a master chef to cook using only plastic food. To truly master a system, one must confront the chaos and complexity of reality.
This course is that reality. “AI in the Wild” is a radical, immersive learning experience that uses the American wilderness as the ultimate AI classroom. We will move beyond the code and into the consequence. Students will be embedded in the high-stakes, unpredictable operational environment of a DAOS R Us expedition. They will not be learning about AI; they will be learning from it, seeing firsthand how our alliance’s intelligent systems grapple with the messy, glorious, and unforgiving challenges of the real world. This is the masterclass in applied AI that no classroom can offer.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Translate complex, human-centric challenges (e.g., guest safety, guide efficiency) into technical requirements for an AI-driven solution.
- Differentiate between clean “training data” and the messy, incomplete, and real-time “inference data” that characterizes real-world operations.
- Model the critical interdependencies between an AI system and its physical infrastructure, understanding how network availability (Trifi), vehicle capability (Kurb Kars), and energy status (Agra) impact decision-making.
- Evaluate the ethical and risk-management considerations of deploying autonomous and intelligent systems in unpredictable natural environments.
- Propose a new, technology-enhanced business model that leverages local, natural assets to create sustainable economic value, applying the principles of the “Decentralized American Dream.”
Target Audience:
This course is designed for High School Students (Grades 9-12) who are the adventurers, the builders, and the problem-solvers. It is ideal for students with an interest in robotics, environmental science, systems engineering, and entrepreneurship who want to understand how technology is applied to solve tangible, physical-world challenges. This is a course for students who want to get their hands dirty, literally and figuratively.
Materials & Resources:
- The DAOS R Us Living Laboratory: The primary resource is the expedition itself. Students will have direct, curated access to our guides, our operations, and our technology in action.
- Field Data Collection Kits: Each student team will be equipped with basic, ruggedized IoT sensors to gather their own real-world data (e.g., trail conditions, micro-climates, sound levels) for their final project.
- The “Alliance Intelligence Dashboard” (Observer Access): A simplified, real-time view of our ecosystem’s digital twin, allowing students to see how the data they are collecting in the field relates to the larger operational picture.
- The Capstone Challenge: A final project where student teams must design a new, AI-enhanced safety, logistics, or guest experience feature that solves a real problem they personally identified during their expedition. They will present their solution to a panel of alliance leaders.