PROFILE: The Lab for Robotic Education: Summer program for teens

The Lab for Robotic Education (LaRE) is a new program in Brooklyn where underprivileged teens are given opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The LaRE provides students with the resources to explore the fields of STEM in conjunction with high quality instruction and guidance from industry mentors.

Students will learn robotics by doing at the Lab For Robotic Education this summer.

LaRE is the brainchild of Danny Perez, a Queens born graduate of NYU-Polytechnic.  He has been a life-long lover of robots and robotics since he took a workshop in high school.  He is joined by friends and cohorts Johny Urgiles, a Brooklyn born computer scientist and educator, and Nicole Bieber, an MIT graduate and educator.

Together they will be offering a free workshop for underprivileged students interested in Robotics.  Every summer Saturday during the summer, they’ll offer an afternoon hands-on learning experience wherein incoming or currently enrolled High School students will have the opportunity to build robots, and learn Arduino programming to program their robot.  By the end of the summer, students will have done the following:

• have developed foundational programming skills
• know how to design and build two complete robots using the Arduino microcontroller
• get a chance to present their work to friends, parents, and other professional engineers.
• receive a certificate for completing a summer at The LaRE
• understand how to approach building even more complex robots!

A prototype of one of the robots that students will build. Photo credit: Randomskk

The applications are due by June 1, although applications are evaluated as they are received and slots may close before then.  The program is free, but students will have to pay for their own transportation to and from Brooklyn (where the classes are being held)

To find out more, or to have your teen apply, visit the LaRE website: http://robotsinthelare.wordpress.com/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Adam Gertsacov is the co-founder and co-organizer of Digital Family Summit.  He wears many hats, including those of a professional clown, an author and publisher, an artist/educator, a non-profit administrator, a P.T. Barnum impersonator, a flea circus impresario, and the esteemed hat of the Clown Laureate of Greenbelt, Maryland.