Robogals
Encyclopedia
Robogals is an international student-run organisation that aims to substantially increase the number of young women pursuing engineering in their tertiary studies and careers. Its primary activity is fun, educational robotics workshops aimed at girls in primary and secondary school. Robogals has chapters at fifteen universities across Australia
, New Zealand
, the United Kingdom
, Ireland
and the Netherlands
.
Robogals also run a range of other activities around this central theme. Past events have included a robotics competition (2008), a mass robot dance that attracted significant media coverage (2009), a robot artwork exhibition and science fair
(2010).
The organisation is run entirely by university student volunteers, including at the global headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. It is supported through in-kind and cash contributions primarily from the host universities, as well as external grants and engineering industry sponsors.
in July 2008 by a group of female engineers within the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The original idea, arising from some conversations between Robogals founder Marita Cheng and the then Head of Electrical Engineering, A/Prof. Jamie Evans, was to run a LEGO robotics competition for girls schools around Melbourne to increase interest in engineering, and the teams would be supported with training in the lead-up to the competition.
Following some initial successes in Melbourne, the organisation was expanded throughout Australia in 2009 by inviting female engineering students from four more universities around Australia to a three day "Bootcamp" at the University of Melbourne where they learned how to run a Robogals chapter back at their home university. It is also essential that the students have sufficient support from their faculty before a Robogals chapter can be viably established on any campus. This process has been repeated several times since then to expand Robogals to 15 universities worldwide as of early 2011.
All robotics workshops are run by the local university chapter. The Schools & Students Manager of a chapter liaises with schools to arrange a suitable time for Robogals to visit, while the Lessons Manager makes sure that enough volunteers are trained to run the workshops.
Robogals volunteers are university students, including male and female, who teach school girls the basics of engineering, robotics and programming using LEGO Mindstorms
NXT kits. Lessons are typically taught in 3-hour sessions, over 2 sessions, but this varies depending on location. The lessons include:
or RoboCup Junior
.
Robogals Melbourne held a Science and Engineering Expo in August 2010, partnered with National Science Week, attended by girls schools and a few individual families. Since it was such a success, all chapters are currently considering participating in the National Science Week
next year.
In 2010, Robogals Perth went on an excursion to Kalgoorlie to demonstrate to school students how interesting robotics can be, as part of the seventh annual Science Awareness Festival by Scitech
.
In March 2011, Robogals London had a stall at the Big Bang Fair
attempt for the 'largest robot dance' received significant media coverage, including on national television. Over 300 dancers/students turned up at the mass robot dance, held on 29 September 2009 at the University of Melbourne.
showcasing 5 life-size robots in Sydney, built by emerging artists and design students. The week-long event held from 6–11 September functioned as street art, to invite pedestrians to reflect on the theme 'the impact of technology in today's society'. The event received enormous exposure to the public, being located at a transportation hub in central Sydney CBD - Wynyard Park
(complete with train station and 8 bus stops). Over hundreds of thousands of pedestrians had lunch alongside the robots, or stopped to admire them.
Sydney’s office to hear about life at Google, learn how to hack and reprogram the LEGO NXT brick, and have a robotics competition against Google staff.
The meetings during the early Robogals expansion stages (in 2009 and early 2010) were called "Bootcamps", but since late 2010 have been called SINEs.
Past conferences have included:
Each chapter operates as an independent student club and is granted some degree of autonomy in deciding what activities to pursue, but must at the very least offer the core robotics workshop program in schools.
There can only be one local chapter per state (within one prestigious local university). Each region (i.e. Aus&NZ and UK&EU) is managed by a Region Director who acts as a mentor to all the chapter presidents in their region.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Robogals also run a range of other activities around this central theme. Past events have included a robotics competition (2008), a mass robot dance that attracted significant media coverage (2009), a robot artwork exhibition and science fair
Science fair
A science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...
(2010).
The organisation is run entirely by university student volunteers, including at the global headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. It is supported through in-kind and cash contributions primarily from the host universities, as well as external grants and engineering industry sponsors.
History
Robogals was founded as a student club at the University of MelbourneUniversity of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
in July 2008 by a group of female engineers within the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The original idea, arising from some conversations between Robogals founder Marita Cheng and the then Head of Electrical Engineering, A/Prof. Jamie Evans, was to run a LEGO robotics competition for girls schools around Melbourne to increase interest in engineering, and the teams would be supported with training in the lead-up to the competition.
Following some initial successes in Melbourne, the organisation was expanded throughout Australia in 2009 by inviting female engineering students from four more universities around Australia to a three day "Bootcamp" at the University of Melbourne where they learned how to run a Robogals chapter back at their home university. It is also essential that the students have sufficient support from their faculty before a Robogals chapter can be viably established on any campus. This process has been repeated several times since then to expand Robogals to 15 universities worldwide as of early 2011.
Robotics Workshops
Robogals' primary activity is running robotics workshops in schools, or by having the schools visit the uni, that engage the girls in engineering topics and increase interest and understanding of engineering at a young age.All robotics workshops are run by the local university chapter. The Schools & Students Manager of a chapter liaises with schools to arrange a suitable time for Robogals to visit, while the Lessons Manager makes sure that enough volunteers are trained to run the workshops.
Robogals volunteers are university students, including male and female, who teach school girls the basics of engineering, robotics and programming using LEGO Mindstorms
Lego Mindstorms
The LEGO Mindstorm series of kits contain software and hardware to create small, customizable and programmable robots. They include a programmable 'Brick' computer that controls the system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and LEGO parts from the Technics line to create the mechanical...
NXT kits. Lessons are typically taught in 3-hour sessions, over 2 sessions, but this varies depending on location. The lessons include:
- An introduction to science, engineering and technology
- Building a robot using LEGO Mindstorms NXTs
- Adding and testing electronics (motors and sensors) to the robot
- Programming the robot to move, use the sensors and perform specific tasks
Robotics Mentoring
Most Robogals chapters also mentor school teams in either FIRST LEGO LeagueFIRST Lego League
The FIRST® LEGO® League is an international competition organized by FIRST for elementary and middle school students ....
or RoboCup Junior
RoboCup Junior
RoboCup Junior is a division of RoboCup, a not-for-profit robotics organisation. It focuses on education and aims to introduce the larger goals of the RoboCup project to primary and secondary school aged children...
.
Rural and Regional Program
The Robogals Rural and Regional programme encompasses holding events aimed at getting more girls interested in science, engineering and technology in rural and regional areas, organised by female engineering students in those areas. The first phase is taking place from April-July 2011.Community Events
Robogals' events aim to engage the community and university students, showing everyone how interesting science and robotics can be.Robogals Melbourne held a Science and Engineering Expo in August 2010, partnered with National Science Week, attended by girls schools and a few individual families. Since it was such a success, all chapters are currently considering participating in the National Science Week
National Science Week
National Science Week refers to series of science-related events for the general public which are held in a specific countries during a designated week of the year...
next year.
In 2010, Robogals Perth went on an excursion to Kalgoorlie to demonstrate to school students how interesting robotics can be, as part of the seventh annual Science Awareness Festival by Scitech
Scitech
Scitech is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to increase interest and participation by Western Australians in science and technology...
.
In March 2011, Robogals London had a stall at the Big Bang Fair
Robot Dance
In 2009, Robogals’ Guinness World RecordGuinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
attempt for the 'largest robot dance' received significant media coverage, including on national television. Over 300 dancers/students turned up at the mass robot dance, held on 29 September 2009 at the University of Melbourne.
The Robots Are Coming exhibition
The Robots Are Coming was an art exhibitionArt exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
showcasing 5 life-size robots in Sydney, built by emerging artists and design students. The week-long event held from 6–11 September functioned as street art, to invite pedestrians to reflect on the theme 'the impact of technology in today's society'. The event received enormous exposure to the public, being located at a transportation hub in central Sydney CBD - Wynyard Park
Wynyard Park, Sydney
Wynyard Park is a small park in the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Wynyard Park is located in the Sydney central business district and is bounded by York , Carrington, Margaret and Barrack Streets. Surrounded by modern high-rise buildings it is one of the most densely built-up and...
(complete with train station and 8 bus stops). Over hundreds of thousands of pedestrians had lunch alongside the robots, or stopped to admire them.
Conferences
The SINEs (Seminars Inducting New Executive-committees) aim to bring together Robogals executive committee members from all chapters in one region, focussing mainly on training the new committee members as well as allowing Robogals from around the region to meet each other to socialise and exchange ideas. It is also the primary means of expanding Robogals to new universities around the world. There are also other fun activities organised, for example in 2010, Robogals committee members in Australia had the chance to visit GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Sydney’s office to hear about life at Google, learn how to hack and reprogram the LEGO NXT brick, and have a robotics competition against Google staff.
The meetings during the early Robogals expansion stages (in 2009 and early 2010) were called "Bootcamps", but since late 2010 have been called SINEs.
Past conferences have included:
- Robogals Bootcamp, 29 September - 1 October 2009, University of MelbourneUniversity of MelbourneThe University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, Melbourne, Australia - Robogals Bootcamp UK, 24-25 April 2010, Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
, London, U.K. - Robogals Australia & NZ SINE 2010, 10-12 September 2010, University of New South WalesUniversity of New South WalesThe University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, Sydney, Australia - Robogals UK & Europe SINE 2011, 11-13 February 2011, University of ManchesterUniversity of ManchesterThe University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
, Manchester, U.K.
Organisational Structure
Robogals Global (incorporated as Robogals Inc.), based in Melbourne, Australia, is the parent body of all Robogals chapters. It was created to oversee and mentor all the chapters of Robogals, and to facilitate worldwide expansion plans. Robogals is divided into two regions, and then further into chapters.Each chapter operates as an independent student club and is granted some degree of autonomy in deciding what activities to pursue, but must at the very least offer the core robotics workshop program in schools.
Robogals Australia & New Zealand
- University of MelbourneUniversity of MelbourneThe University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
- University of New South WalesUniversity of New South WalesThe University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
- University of QueenslandUniversity of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
- University of AdelaideUniversity of AdelaideThe University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
- University of Western AustraliaUniversity of Western AustraliaThe University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
- University of OtagoUniversity of OtagoThe University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
Robogals UK & Europe
- Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
- University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
- University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
- University of ManchesterUniversity of ManchesterThe University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
- University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
- Trinity College, DublinTrinity College, DublinTrinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
- University of SheffieldUniversity of SheffieldThe University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...
- University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
- TU Delft
There can only be one local chapter per state (within one prestigious local university). Each region (i.e. Aus&NZ and UK&EU) is managed by a Region Director who acts as a mentor to all the chapter presidents in their region.