Community Outreach
Robotics Outreach at Lincoln Laboratory (ROLL)
Lincoln Laboratory has established a Robotics Initiative—a new educational outreach program designed to stimulate youth interest in science and technology. This program, Robotics Outreach at Lincoln Laboratory (ROLL), seeks to drive students towards math, science, and engineering by engaging students in robotics and similar hands-on activities while fostering a sense of curiosity and accomplishment.
Teachers: Contact ROLL if you need mentors, classroom robotics demonstrations, or engineering experts for consult on an as-needed basis. ROLL members are full-time scientists and engineers at Lincoln Laboratory who volunteer their time as part of Laboratory outreach in an effort to share their excitement for the fascinating fields of science and engineering.
The primary goals of this initiative are to
- Sponsor student robotic teams participating in external competitions.
- Host robotics workshops and in-house competitions.
- Support local communities by supplying technical mentors to local area schools and groups.
Sponsoring student robotic teams
ROLL assists students in several events including Boston University's Academy Workshop, the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition, and the FIRST Lego League competition. In fall 2008, ROLL took a huge first step in addressing the Laboratory's robotics outreach initiative by mentoring four teams made of Laboratory employees' children aged 9-18 years. These teams met every weekend thooughout the fall to build and program their robots and practice performing robotic challenges as set forth by FIRST. Various regional competitions were held throughout fall and winter. See the Lincoln Robotics Teams page for updates on the progress of these teams.
Hosting robotics workshops
ROLL has developed a full-immersion weekend robotics workshop for 9th and 10th grade children of Laboratory employees. These workshops consist of a weekend hands-on engineering challenge using Lego Mindstorms to build and program a working robot. Further workshops will be planned based on lessons learned from the pilot program, and will eventually be open to children in the local area. The Weekend Robotics Workshops page shows select photos from past weekend workshops.
Supporting community by supplying technical mentors
The group is 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 to help with robotics competitions can also be requested through ROLL at ROLL@LL.MIT.edu. For examples of ROLL's past presentations, demonstrations, and involvement in the community and local schools, see the Technical Mentors page.
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