Robot Day is a day where kids and young professionals can learn about robots via a presentation and play time with actual robots after. The idea for Robot Day came from when Irvin was boothing for OC IEEE Young Professionals with his STEM Ferris Wheel toy at an IVC science fair and a ton of parents kept asking where he got it from, how much it cost and where to get it themselves…this interest in STEM toys from families got Irvin thinking that a whole session dedicated to these toys, combined with professional engineers, would be a great way to raise awareness of STEM within the local community!
Irvin realized there was a need for STEM toy awareness within Orange County and started doing Robot Days afterwards, with the first one in January of 2018, the second one in February, and the third one in August, with a fourth and final one planned for October or November.
Attendance has been rising from 20 to 40 to 60 for the last event, which was even capped so the potential for a large audience is very much possible if the venue & volunteer help can support it!
Other than showing off STEM toys to children, Robot Day is also about improving physical communication in an increasingly digital world. Irvin uses micro volunteering lessions from IEEE to empower kids to work as a team to get robots working both for their own fun and for others — teaching them early on that team work is crucial to success, much like the professional world.
In addition to raising awareness of STEM and teaching team work, Robot Day is also about creating connections and conversations between different members of the community like families with children interested with STEM to professional engineers in the industry with valuable experience to share!
The schedule for Robot Day goes as follows for a total of 2 hours:
Check in / Light Refreshments (30 mins)
Presentation (25 mins)
Q&A (5 min)
Playtime with Robots (1 hour)
Volunteers would be appreciated but not required in: photography, check-in or refreshments set-up. Parents are usually able to provide these services but the more volunteers to help out, the better! For more updates, follow our page on Facebook here or sign up for our email list at the bottom of my personal page here!
