Robotics and automation have been a growing area within K–12 educational institutions for the past decade. Across secondary educational institutions, students are introduced to robotics in classes, after-school clubs, and competition leagues through various educational platforms, vendors, and kits. Robotics was initially implemented in schools to help drive more interest in STEM through hands-on application of mechanical, electrical, structural, and computer engineering concepts. Recently, the trend of K–12 robotics has become very niche, focusing more on mobile robotics or robotics competitions. Because of this trend, students have limited exposure to emerging technological advances, such as those found in Industry 4.0. Exciting technological areas, such as digital twins, are not covered in curricula, and this lack of exposure negatively influences the direction of student interest in the “T” and “E” of STEM, with many students never pursuing computer science, technology, or robotics in higher education. The primary goal of this research is to provide a methodology to expose secondary students to Industry 4.0 technologies by leveraging accessible technologies, such as Unity and the Robot Operating System (ROS), to develop a low-cost, high-fidelity digital twin of a pick-and-place robot in a smart warehouse operation. This digital twin prototype will help students to learn about Industry 4.0 trends, such as next-generation automation systems, digital twins, digital manufacturing, intelligent automation, and additive manufacturing, using ROS–Unity integration and hardware accessible to secondary schools to simulate a pick-and-place robotic application. By harnessing the accessibility of Unity and ROS to create a low-cost digital twin prototype for a secondary school, this research has a secondary goal of improving the pipeline of students interested in pursuing STEM-related learning in higher education, thereby ensuring a future STEM workforce that can research, design, develop, operate, and maintain the systems and technologies of Industry 4.0.

When Hurricane Katrina passed over southern Florida, Florida Bay and the West Florida Shelf, and into the Gulf of Mexico, empirically derived chl a increases were observed in the Tortugas Gyre circulation feature, and in adjacent waters. Analysis of the empirically derived chl a increase within the gyre has been primarily attributed to initiation of a phytoplankton bloom promoted by nutrients upwelled by Katrina's winds. Detailed analysis of inherent optical properties derived from remotely sensed radiances, however, indicated the interaction of Katrina with shallow coastal and shelf waters likely entrained waters with higher concentrations of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) into the gyre circulation, augmenting the chl a signal. Storm-induced upwelling would also transport optically active CDOM to the surface. Increases in empirically derived chl a in the Florida coastal waters influenced by Katrina's winds were therefore partly due to increased absorption by CDOM. This analysis indicates that elevated empirically derived chl a in hurricane-influenced waters should not be unambiguously attributed to increased phytoplankton productivity, particularly in an optically complex coastal environment.