Community outreach is an important part of the Soft Robotics Toolkit mission. The Toolkit has hosted speaking events and workshops both locally and abroad as well as collaborated with the Harvard Ed Portal and Harvard SEAS outreach.
The Toolkit workshops help to pilot test the quality and age appropriateness of our instructional materials. Interacting with students helps us determine what they find most enjoyable. The Toolkit is continually adding to it’s collection of proven instructional guides and as we conduct future workshop they will inform us as we develop more educational content.
2019 Workshops
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NH Techfest Age group: All ages | When: November: 2nd, 2019 The NH Techfest took place at Salem High School in New Hampshire and hosted a variety of technology companies and initiatives such as DEKA Research, Bose, FBI, and First Robotics. Coming straight from the successful workshops in India, the Soft Robotics Toolkit showcased their most up to date kit and presented a video of the Indian workshops to highlight the widespread outreach. Great connections were made with local New Hampshire schools with hopes of future collaborations. |
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Delhi, India Workshops Age group: 11 - 14 | when: October 14 - 18th, 2019 The Soft Robotics Toolkit held workshops in two schools in Delhi, India. The goal of the workshops was to introduce students to soft robotics and to inspire them to find interest in STEM fields. We took this opportunity to test our newly design instruction manuals, as well as a newly developed magazine for providing insights into the concepts that make up soft robotics. We had overwhelmingly positive feedback and made important discoveries to further develop the kit to provide students and teachers with a rich learning experience. |
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EXPLO Workshop Age group: 14- 15 | when: July 24th, 2019 The bioengineering program for young women, EXPLO, returned this summer to experience the newest version of the Soft Robotics Toolkit. They enjoyed discovering soft robotics by casting silicone and building a manually actuated soft gripper. Great discussions and great feedback, we hope to see them back in 2020 for the third year in a row! |
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Robot Block Party Age group: All ages | When: October 20th 2019 The MassRobotics Robot Block Party is a one-day, hands-on event open to the public in downtown Boston. The event features booths set up from universities and companies to showcase interesting robotics research and products for the general public. The Robot Block Party takes place during Massachusetts STEM week and has hundreds of local children come through to see the exhibits. The toolkit's booth showcases the new all-in-one instructional kits for education. Kids have a great time at the booth using soft robotic grippers to pick and place objects of differing shapes and sizes. |
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Acera Innovator Symposium Age group: All ages | When: October 24th 2019 The Acera Innovator Symposium allows students to meet scientists, tech leaders, and inventors from local universities and companies. Talks from CEOs and PhD scientists are interspersed with hands-on maker stations showcasing current work in science and robotics. The toolkit's booth again showcases the new all-in-one instructional kits for education. Kids have a great time at the booth using soft robotic grippers to pick and place objects of differing shapes and sizes. |
2018 Workshops
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EXPLO Workshop Age group: 13-16 | When: July 19th 2018 EXPLO is a summer program in bioengineering for young women in 9th-11th grade. Hosted at Wheaton College, the participants travel to area schools in and around Boston to experience workshops, lectures, and lab visits to help foster an interest in science. As part of the program, 15 participants traveled to Harvard for a workshop, participating in the SDM finger and pneumatic muscle activity to coincide with their bioengineering courses. Each student made two soft actuators and tested actuation powered by one artificial muscles to determine how this actuator could be utilized to tackle various objects encountered. |
2017 Workshops
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MassRobotics Educator Workshop: Age groups: Educators of various levels | When: October 11th 2017 Educators from around Boston came to MassRobotics for a workshop with the Soft Robotics Toolkit showcasing the Resources for Educators materials published on Softroboticstoolkit.com. The workshop focused on training educators in the newly developed fabrication guides for educators so that they could better integrate STEM materials into their classrooms or after school activities. The workshop took participants through the process of planning, building and sealing a cardboard mold as well as becoming familiar with the silicone casting process. In the end the educators made SDM Finger actuators, a lesson typically used to teach students about mold making, geometry and locomotion. |
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REU Workshop Age groups: Undergraduates | When: July 13th - 14th 2017 The Soft Robotics toolkit held a workshop with the Harvard Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. The summer students travel to Harvard from universities around the world to gain additional research experience and bring the lessons back to their home institutions. The workshop gave an introductory soft robotics lessons and walked them through the process of creating a soft gripper, a simple example of a pneumatic actuator. One student from the program took this newfound knowledge to his home university in Puerto Rico and conducted a workshop within his engineering department. |
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Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia - UPCH Workshop Age group: 11-12 | When: August 2017 Soft Robotics Toolkit partners from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) hosted a workshop in the IEP Maria Goretti High School in Peru. The workshop focused on helping younger Peruvian students become aware of the field of engineering through hands-on construction and activities. Participants made pneumatic actuators with embedded soft sensors that could be co-molded and tested with a multi-meter. |
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Harvard Ed Portal Workshop |
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Inspirefest Family Fringe Event Workshop Age group: all ages | When: July 2017 Inspirefest is a festival event in Ireland focused on providing workshops for kids in the fields of engineering, computer science and maker culture. The event hosts numerous workshops with hands-on design activities such as making board games, learning to code and making soft robots. We hosted a lecture and a workshop for attendees introducing pneumatic actuators. Attendees used balloons, different stretchy and non-stretchy fabrics as well as hand pumps to inflate the balloons and depending on the materials used, saw various type of movements performed. |
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Project Teach Lecture |
2016 Workshops
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UTEC Workshop |
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Tech Savvy Workshop |
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Ed Portal Workshop |
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CRLS Workshop |
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Apprentice Learning |
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Project Teach Lecture |
2015 Workshops
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Artemis Project |