“There needs to be two there.”
“We’re short one of these.“
I’ve gotta tighten this.”
Those were just some of the things Sto-Rox Jr./Sr. High School students said as they built robots on Thursday. Girls of Steel paid a visit to the auditorium and brought along the parts and pieces of two rolling robots.
“Robots are becoming more common in the world,” said Liz, one of the facilitators. “It’s good for (the students) to interact with robots in the most beneficial ways.”
One of those ways, is being hands-on. In less than three hours, two teams of students worked together to construct their robots. When they finished, they booted up laptops and drove the robots around the auditorium stage and the adjoining hallways.
Girls of Steel was founded in 2010. As part of The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, the team’s mission is to help elementary, middle, and high school students - especially girls and people from historically underrepresented groups - experience the joys of robotics.
“The gender gap in robotics is very real,” said Liz, reflecting on an industry that is dominated by men.
Liz went on to point out that students who study robotics can go on to well-paying careers. You don’t necessarily have to go college to work with robots, either, with the presence of workforce development programs. With so many robotics companies in Pittsburgh, the opportunities for interested students are nearly limitless, whether you want to build, fix, or program these machines.