Community Outreach
Technical Robotics Mentors
Robotics Outreach at Lincoln Laboratory (ROLL) members are full-time scientists and engineers at Lincoln Laboratory who volunteer their time in an effort to share their excitement for the fascinating fields of science, engineering, and robotics.
Robotics mentors are available as a point of contact for schools, classrooms, and groups in search of a mentor for middle-school and high-shool students. Volunteers are available to visit schools, provide tips, and answer questions on an as-needed basis. Volunteers can also be requested to help prepare for robotics competitions, to provide demonstrations, or explain the basic fundamentals of robotics.
Examples of ROLL's past presentations, demonstrations, and involvement with community and local schools are provided below.
FIRST Robotics Competition - February 2009
A Lincoln Laboratory staff member volunteered as a judge for this weekend event in which regional high school teams compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition in hopes of scoring enough points to attend the world championship.
Another staff member not only served on the planning committee for the Boston FIRST Regional competition, but also acted as a FIRST ambassador, giving tours of the arena and team pit area to VIP guests. Further, he served as a regional mentor for two teams, connecting them with resources and providing external support to the teams on both engineering and non-engineering issues.
Other ROLL members served as coaches (see above) for the four Lincoln Laboratory robotics teams competing in the 2008-2009 season. The Laboratory rookie teams performed well and, with the help of coaches and mentors, learned first-hand how to program a robot to perform specific functions.
Help in starting a high-school robotics program- December 2008
A high school teacher requested help in beginning a robotics program. ROLL assisted by registering with the National Girls Collaborative Project, which helped the teacher acquire a mini-grant for the program. Once funding begins, two ROLL vounteers will serve as mentors.
Mary K. Goode Elementary School in Middleborough - October 2008
ROLL forged into new territory when a local elementary school requested their help in teaching first and second grade students the concepts of programming and robotics. In addition to showing the kids a robot that looked and moved like a scorpion, ROLL mentors developed several role-playing games requiring one or more students to be the robot and follow specific instructions, while other students played the part of the programmers, supplying instructions to the robot one step at a time, and introducing the idea of "looping," a common programming term indicating a sequence of instructions that is continually repeated until a certain condition is reached. The idea of looping was conveyed by having the kids act as a dish-washing robot, noting that if there were still dishes to be washed, the robot should start over at the first instruction and follow the same routine as before. Later, the ROLL volunteers received a package of letters from 15 second graders all starting with "Dear MIT friends." Here are a few samplings:
"I had a spectacular time with you at the centers in side of the cafeteria. I learned that a robot can be like a person." –Katelyn
"But how did you make the robot? The cafeteria is where I eat my lunch." -Patrick
"I had fun being the robot. I wish we could do it again." -Kobe
"My favorite center was robots and computer, and watching the scorpion, it was fun!" - Julia
"I learned that robots have to have programs and computers. I had fun when I had to do commands. My favorite part was the scorpion part." – Kaylee
"My favorite part was the dishwasher center. My second favorite part was the scorpion." –Rachel
"I had so much fun at the center, because of when you got to be a dishwasher, and you could be broken." –William
"One of my favorite things was being the cup." –Jake
"My favorite part was the scorpion." –Daniel
"I had a great time being the robot that get commands, like making a pattern out of balls. It was so cool how that lego robot stabbed people with its stinger!" – Zachary
"I loved the Lego Scorpion… some day I will build a robot!" –Thomas
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Pictures contributed by Julia, Katelyn, and Zachary
Minuteman High School in Lexington - June 2008
ROLL received a last-minute request to help judge senior design projects and provide input about the students' work. ROLL found a volunteer who was available for judging the very next day.
RoboCup Jr competition at MIT - May 2008
Robot Sumo competition at Boston's Museum of Science - May 2008
Hyde Park Engineering School - March 2008 & March 2009
Hyde Park Engineering School asked ROLL for help with a classroom project. The physics class was tasked with engineering a solution to some problem facing a disabled person in the community. Each group chose a person in the community, decided on a problem they could solve, and worked with the person to create a solution. ROLL provided five volunteers and offered direction when needed. The end products (including a portfolio of research, a functional prototype, and a poster presentation) are presented at the Assistive Technology Design Fair hosted by University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Two ROLL volunteers were able to go see the final presentations at the Assistive Technology Design Fair. In 2009, ROLL helped with this same task, this time, mentoring a totoal of 45 students divided into 13 groups.
FIRST Robotics Competition hosted at BU Academy - February 2008
ROLL provided sixteen engineers, software architects, and other Laboratory employees to BU Academy for a three-day weekend event during which, ROLL volunteers assisted various high school teams competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition with their robot designs and manufacturing problems.