07052023 USD STEAM Academy Outreach

Reaching out to around 75 students, this outreach event aims to introduce students to STEM and allow them to gain a deeper understanding of robotics through hands-on activities.

Find the “Introduction to Robotics” presentation linked here.

Find the iRobot programming activity guide linked here.

Find the Arduino activity guide here.

During the first week of this outreach, we will be introducing students to robotics and giving them an opportunity to implement their learnings through quick and exciting activities. Students will have a chance to work with Arduino kits, the iRobot simulator, mBots, and SeaPerch underwater robots.

Below are brief descriptions of our more in-depth sessions that will take place during week two.

Robotics - Programming and Logic Workshop

• Students will learn about the importance of programming logic as they practice flowcharting conventions. Students will then have fun as they plan and program a simulated robot in the iRobot simulator, using logic to support their thought processes.

Robotics - Circuitry Workshop

• Students will be able to understand the fundamentals of electronics and circuits. By the end of the lesson, students will display their understanding by assembling Arduino circuit kits to create exciting and fully functional circuits.

Robotics - Introductory Ground Robot

• Expanding on our introduction to robotics, students will integrate components such as motors and Arduino boards to make a programmable robot using an mBot robot kit. 

Robotics - Underwater robot

• Students will dive deeper into their understanding of robotic concepts as we discuss topics such as underwater forces and degrees of freedom. Students will then implement their learnings to build functional underwater robots.