A Day of Engineering and Excitement

written by Kelly Chiu, Robogals Melbourne

On Tuesday the 17th of August, Robogals Melbourne held the Robogals Science and Engineering Expo, in partnership with National Science Week.

The event was attended by girls schools as well as a few individual families, who heard about our Expo in the Herald Sun article titled 'Robogals to the Rescue', published one week before the event.

The day started off at 10am with a bridge building exercise. The aim was to build a bridge out of newspaper and sticky tape that would hold up a 600ml water bottle. This activity was modeled off an engineering assignment, which asked students to construct a bridge using only 2 pieces of newspaper and a metre strip of sticky tape. At the Science Expo we provided more than 2 sheets of newspaper and a strip of sticky tape. The bridges constructed were quite unique, from a simple beam bridge to a very interesting suspension bridge.

At 11am it was on to viewing the displays. We had 7 groups being rotated around the 7 displays which were:

• a MakerBot – a printer that prints a 3D plastic model from your computer
• a Mid Size League Robocup robot – a soccer robot
• a Visual Haptics Game – it helps rehabilitate stroke patients for minor motor control
• 4 LEGO robots – a robogator, a humanoid, a ball shooter and a colour-sorter, all built by our volunteers and programmed by one of our lessons managers, Erik

After lunch there were talks from Mechatronics Engineering PhD student Denise Lam, Chemical Engineering PhD student Sher Leen Ng, SKM representative Giselle Gonzales, and Robogals founder Marita Cheng.

The event concluded at 2:30pm. We received great feedback: many found the day an eye opening experience; the highlight for most students was the MakerBot and the talks, particularly Marita's talk.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to:

• for providing and showing their displays: Luke Weston from Hackerspace, Rob Skillington, Darwin Tat-Ming Lau and David Jahshan
• for enlightening us with their talks: Denise Lam, Sher Leen Ng and Giselle Gonzales
• from the National Science Week: Helen Gardiner, Carly Siebentritt, Tania Ewing and Stephanie Mollica
• from the Melbourne School of Engineering: Michelle Bellino, as well as Jamie Evans and Jackie Brissonnette for their continued support
• and all 19 of the volunteers (pictured above) who helped make the day run smoothly

Newspaper article: Robogals to the Rescue, Herald Sun, 10 Aug 2010, Page 56

Taking Sydney By Storm: A Year In Review

written by Zuzia Korban & Anne Ngo, Robogals UNSW

The UNSW chapter of Robogals has been hard at work over the past year! 40 of our 184 members have been involved in training workshops and/or school lessons. We have taught five schools this year, from years 3 to 11, plus an additional 3 schools came to our holiday workshop, totaling over 200 school students involved in lessons. Lesson plans were adapted to suit the age and skill level of the girls, including lessons such as a DanceBot (which danced the hokey-pokey), RescueBot and SoccerBot. The enthusiasm of both Robogals members and the school students has been incredible. Some of the achievements include:

• Sydney Girls High School entered RoboCup Junior 2010, in both the Regional and State Competitions, under the mentorship of Robogals UNSW.
• Robogals UNSW members attended the Regional competition on Sunday 15th August to referee the RoboCup Junior Lightweight Soccer League
• Robogals UNSW members will also be soccer referees at the State RoboCup Junior Competition held on the 26th and 27th August
• St. Catherine's School has been training their own teachers in Lego robotics, and hope to have enough kits (with the help of Robogals UNSW!) to enter the students in RoboCup Junior 2011 in the Dance/Theatrics component.
• Tara Anglican School for Girls, Macarthur Girls High School and Burwood Girls High School are all looking into entering RoboCup Junior 2011

We also spoke to Year 9-12 students about the opportunities that lie in an engineering degree, and the potential to have a true impact on the world. We received help from the MAVSTAR team from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, allowing us to show the girls some of the real-life applications of what they had learnt in their Lego-Robotics lessons, e.g. biomedical devices and a real 'RescueBot', the MAV (Micro Aerial Vehicle).

A presentation day was held on 9 September where the achievements of lessons were showcased, a BBQ lunch was held, as well as presentation of certificates and prizes for the students.

Four new schools are already on board for our next set of lessons to be held later this year and early next year before semester begins.

The volunteers have been extremely dedicated to their roles, many staying back after 6pm to help with after-school lessons, particularly during the week-long workshop. They helped to set up, teach the lessons, pack away LEGO kits and donated hours of their time to Robogals.

The university has been very supportive of our activities. Donations have been made by several university departments to help with purchasing kits for the schools as well as for our own use and gifts for the students. We have also had articles in the prestigious UNSW Engineering Alumni Magazine, and the 2011 UNSW Computing Guide, which gets sent to all high schools in Sydney.

Finally, Robogals UNSW hosted the Robogals national conference this year from 10-12 September! [Editor's Note: full report on the conference will be in the next issue of The Amplifier]

I am extremely proud of the work that has been put into our chapter, which a year ago had merely six members. In such a short period of time we have already managed to influence and inspire so many young girls and spread the love of engineering a little bit further.

Video: Robogals UNSW 2010

Coming in the next issue...

• Robogals Australia & New Zealand Conference 2010
• Robogals London chapter presentation at the Educating Engineering Leaders Conference
• FIRST LEGO League
• A tribute to our outgoing committee members
• And more!

Volunteer Profile

Rachel Bradley
London, U.K.

What do you study?

Chemical Engineering with a double major in Engineering and Public Policy.

Why engineering?

I believe I chose engineering because the field seemed flexible, and I could chose my paths with more freedom. I also thought it was a really smart field and I was good at science and maths. Then when I started taking chemical engineering courses, I wasn't sure what I was interested in pursuing, so I chose another major that would show me what else can be done with this education, hence Public Policy.

That choice balances things out, because I wanted to be people-based, whereas chemical engineering is very computer-based.

What have you done with Robogals?

I joined Robogals while studying my junior year abroad at Imperial College London. I became the 'official' volunteer helping out with recruiting members, assisting the graphics designer, attending training sessions, and volunteering at the UK bootcamp.

What was the biggest highlight?

I became involved when the club could only claim having a few members. The biggest highlight was working through the growing stages: planning events, marketing our club's image, and just being overwhelmingly flexible. I'm lucky to have worked so closely with our president Sonya and the rest of the exec and to have contributed to what Imperial College's Robogals is now.

A more specific highlight would be brainstorming with members a final challenge for the girls. One of my suggestions was a maze with shooting or interactive tag, which is still in consideration for future implementation.

What are your dreams and goals for the future?

One goal of mine is to continue seeking truth and my dream is to keep travelling throughout my life.

What are your hobbies outside study and Robogals?

Volleyball and reading.



The Amplifier is the official newsletter of Robogals, collating articles written by our chapters all around the world for the benefit of Robogals members, supporting faculty, partners, sponsors and anyone else interested in following our activities.

Editor: Jia Choong
Enquiries: media@robogals.org
Website: www.robogals.org

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