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Session Description

Ticketed event: Flower Bots - $60.00 advanced registration and $70.00 on site registration
Robotics is an ideal tool for illustrating connections between multiple disciplines such as computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering. It is also a great way to get young people interested in, involved in, and excited about the possibilities of STEM. However, there are some challenges that may limit the ability of some diverse or resource limited communities from being able to access the benefits of robotics education. These barriers include the high cost of educational robotics platforms and lack of a knowledge base for novice educators to access. In this workshop, participants will learn how to build and program the Flower∞Bots platform with graphical and text-based programming using controllers such as MicroBit, Arduino Uno and Raspberry PI Pico. They will use the open-source hardware and software resources available on YouTube, GITHub, HacksterIO and Instructables to increase their knowledge base and enable them to take it back to their classroom. Each participant will get one open-source robot to take home along with all of the resources such as videos, CAD files, printer files, and code to create more for their classroom or university. Learn more about the robot at youtube.com and NoireSTEMinist.com.
Schedule:
• Learn about robot parts and build the robot
• Use graphical programming with MIcroBit on the Flower∞Bot to create a behavior
• Use sketch programming with Arduino Uno on the Flower∞Bot to create a behavior
• Use MicroPython with Raspberry Pi Pico W on the Flower∞Bot to create a behavior

Speaker

1. Dr. Carlotta A Berry

   Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

   Dr. Carlota A. Berry is a professor, author, researcher, mentor, role model, prolific speaker, and a STEM trailblazer. In her efforts to increase the number of women and historically marginalized and minoritized students earning degrees in computer science, computer, electrical, and software engineering at her university, she co-founded the Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity professional development, networking, and scholarship program in 2008. Since its inception, there have been approximately 40 graduates and the number of women at the university has increased to 25%.

   In 2020, to achieve her mission to diversify STEM by bringing robotics to people and bringing people to robotics, she launched her business, NoireSTEMinist educational consulting. She also co-founded Black In Engineering and Black In Robotics to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in STEM. Her innovative strategies to normalize seeing Black women in STEM including performing robot hip hop slam poetry, writing Black STEM Romance novels, conducting robotics workshops, creating open-source robots, sharing Black STEM digital AI art, and using social media to educate the world about engineering and robotics have proven to be groundbreaking and successful.
   One of her proudest accomplishments was receiving FIRST Robotics Competition volunteer of the year award for being a judge, judge advisor, and chair of regional and district planning committees for over a decade. This is second only to serving as co-leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout troop and then mentoring those same girls on the Gamer Girlz FIRST Lego League and VEX robotics team.

   Through her innovative work in engineering education and STEM outreach, she has appeared in several print and digital media including Forbes, Black Enterprise, New York Times, and CBS News. She has also been recognized with several national awards including the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) fellow, ASEE Electrical and Computer Engineering Division Distinguished Engineering Educator, Grace Hopper Celebration Educational Innovation Abie Award, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Undergraduate Teaching Award, Indiana Business Journal Women of Influence, and Society of Women Engineers Distinguished Engineering Educator.