Underwater Robotics team moves beyond competition to STEM outreach

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UWRT members working on robot

The Underwater Robotics Team (UWRT) members aim to be more than a competition team, they want to be a space for robotics education not only for Ohio State students, but for the next generation of robotics students as well.

With this in mind, the team has created the STEMBot Workshop, designed to introduce central Ohio middle school students to robotics and get them excited about engineering.

“We want to perform community outreach that makes an impact on the participants,” said UWRT President-Elect Pareth Parekh.

The afterschool program is free to participating schools and uses easily accessible, inexpensive materials to teach students how to design and build robots.

“This outreach program allows our team members to engage with underprivileged schools in the greater Columbus area,” said Caroline Eggett, UWRT business team lead and treasurer. “During the 10 day workshop, students will become familiar with the engineering design process by utilizing an engineering design software, assembling, programming, testing and troubleshooting remotely operated underwater vehicles. Upon successful construction and operation of the STEMBot, the students will have the opportunity to compete against other teams at their school in an obstacle course.”

UWRT is building a curriculum that allows an organization to provide a classroom with five STEMBot kits for groups of students to engage in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical curriculum with a $2,500 sponsorship.

“We’re very excited for this project and the chance to volunteer our time to share our knowledge of STEM and robotics with middle school students,” said Parekh.

Organizations interested in learning more about the STEMBot Workshop and sponsorship opportunities can contact Caroline Eggett at eggett.3@osu.edu.

by Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering communications staff

Categories: StudentsOutreach
Tag: robotics