Buddy Bots

Hello, we are Alesi, Bella, and Lily,

We are three female high school students working to share our knowledge of STEM and robotics. All of us have been leaders of our school's robotics program for the past couple of years and have been lucky enough to engage with STEM in many ways. We are also competent with coding, and robot engineering, and have helped teach kids in the past. Our mission is to partner with Title 1 elementary schools in the Los Angeles area and create STEM-based after-school classes for young girls focused on robotics. We hope to be able to allow low-income schools and students to learn about robotics.

Why are we doing this?

Today, students in low-income areas and Title 1 schools often don’t have access to STEM-based programs such as robotics. Many STEM programs are expensive, robotics especially. There are costs involved in every aspect of building and competing with a robot: parts, computers, programs, coaches, and even access to the competition. Problems such as this cause an access gap in robotics/STEM from neighborhoods and communities. Our objective is to teach an introductory robotics program and allow students to build their own robots. By creating this program we hope to inspire students to explore the STEM field and give them the same opportunity we have to learn about robotics.

What is our plan?

Our program is centered around what is called Lego League Robotics. Lego League releases a challenge once a year for students ages 5-12 to complete. Challenges often consist of a series of obstacles involving pushing, pulling or moving objects. In Lego League students have to think critically about what their robot needs to be able to do to complete as many obstacles as possible. We chose to have our students work with Lego League because it is specially designed for elementary students as well as being cheaper, safer, and easier to understand. We have designed a 10-lesson curriculum and have spoken with our school’s lower school to run a trial course with their tinkering class in mid-February. This way, we will be able to try our program with students before we start working with Title 1 schools and learn how to implement a teaching style that will engage elementary school students. As a result of this trial class, we will also be able to alter and fine-tune our curriculum if any problems arise.