Monday, April 5

2 - 3 pm PST | Find The Robot | Prof. Elisabeth Weiss

Did you know that we will be interacting with robots in our everyday lives in the very near future? Join Professor Weiss and the students of WRIT 340: Advanced Communication for Engineers as we follow the robot through familiar settings like the kitchen, grandma’s house, a local hangout, school, the office, the dance studio- and even Mars! Guess what the robot is doing there. What purpose does it serve? Does it know it’s there?

WRIT 340 students: Hannah Abramowitz, Carley Braunstein, Jackie Dong, Ginger Dudley, Michael Eberhardt, Wei Long Fam, Noah Flanagan, Ruizhuo Jin, San Kim, Tre Lannon, Jane Wang, Tony Lu, Lucy Pan, Helen Salinas, Tyler Somlo, Noah Tristan, Angela Wang, Nianxu Wang, Xiaowen Zhu

 3:30 - 4:30 pm PST | Find The Robot | Prof. Elisabeth Weiss 

Did you know that we will be interacting with robots in our everyday lives in the very near future?  Join Professor Weiss and the students of WRIT 340: Advanced Communication for Engineers as we follow the robot through familiar settings like the kitchen, grandma’s house, a local hangout, school, the office, the dance studio- and even Mars! Guess what the robot is doing there. What purpose does it serve? Does it know it’s there?

WRIT 340 students: Xinyi Cao, Pierce Chase, Hyesu Chung, Johnny Geng, Daisy Guan, Joseph Lappin, Jiayang Li, Zhenjiang Li, Zhiyu Liao, Jakob Liker, Yingzhe Liu, Jasmine Lyu, Sofia Paz Gonzalez, Rudy Perez, Sevak Shakhpazyan, Ally Su, Xiao Tan, Kaiwen Xu, Ezra Zeleke

Tuesday, April 6

10 - 11 am PST | Robot, help me assemble! | Heramb Nemlekar (Ph.D. student in ICAROS Lab) | Registration: FULL-CLOSED

The one-armed robot, Jaco, helps me assemble a bookshelf. He brings me whatever I want, so that I don't have to move. But how does he know what I want? Capped at 30 elementary school students.

Panelists: Caroline Jin, Tara Trinh, Gabby Hansen, Lohith Sargur Manjunath, Tim Bryer-Ash​

12 - 1 pm PST | Program the Human Robot | Cami Amein & USC Student Chapter of IEEE | 

In this game, elementary students will learn that robot instructions (called "programs") must be very detailed or else the robot makes silly mistakes. The students will use verbal commands to "program" USC students who pretend to be robots to see that the programmer must be use very precise instructions. No real robots will be used. Capped at 30 elementary school students.

4 -5 pm PST | Explore the World of Coding and Robotics | Dr. Mary Bonaparte-Saller

Come learn what coding and robotics are all about! We will introduce the basics of coding through a fun activity, learn about some cool robots, and you will get the chance to program one of our robots virtually! Come have some fun with the USC Viterbi Building Opportunities with Teachers in Schools (BOTS) team. Capped at 40 4th & 5th grade students.

Thursday, April 8

10 - 11 am PST | Program the Human Robot | Cami Amein and USC Student Chapter of IEEE | 

In this game, elementary students will learn that robot instructions (called "programs") must be very detailed or else the robot makes silly mistakes. The students will use verbal commands to "program" USC students who pretend to be robots to see that the programmer must be use very precise instructions. No real robots will be used. Capped at 25 elementary students.

Panelists: Caroline Jin, Tara Trinh, Gabby Hansen, Lohith Sargur Manjunath, Tim Bryer-Ash​

4 -5 pm PST | Explore the World of Coding and Robotics | Dr. Mary Bonaparte-Saller | 

Come learn what coding and robotics are all about! We will introduce the basics of coding through a fun activity, learn about some cool robots, and you will get the chance to program one of our robots virtually! Come have some fun with the USC Viterbi Building Opportunities with Teachers in Schools (BOTS) team. Capped at 20 4th & 5th grade students.

5:30 - 6:15 pm PST | Environmental Robotics Using Scratch | MESA Students at Environmental Charter Middle School-Inglewood - Jose F., Derrick L., Andre C. 

An easy coding project using Scratch led by middle school students at Environmental Charter Middle School-Inglewood enrolled in USC's MESA program. Capped at 20 elementary school students.

Friday, April 9

2:30 - 3:30 pm PST | Help Hercules! | Mr. Agustín Sarmiento & CS Honors students at MACES High School 

Learn programming basics and discover how Amazon uses computer science to help fulfill customer orders. Session led by students in the Honor Society at Maywood Center for Enriched Studies (MACES): Students: Alanis C., Samantha G., Anthony M., Cesar R.

Capped at 30 students in 4th-5th grade.

Monday, April 5

10 - 11 am PST | Robotics: Past, Present, and Future | Gautam Salhotra (Ph.D. student in Robotics Embedded Systems Lab) 

A graduate student in robotics research presents an overview of cool robots we've seen (including TV!) and robots we should expect in the future.

5 - 6 pm PST | Find The Robot | Prof. Elisabeth Weiss

Did you know that we will be interacting with robots in our everyday lives in the very near future?  Join Professor Weiss and the students of WRIT 340: Advanced Communication for Engineers as we follow the robot through familiar settings like the kitchen, grandma’s house, a local hangout, school, the office, the dance studio- and even Mars! Guess what the robot is doing there. What purpose does it serve? Does it know it’s there?

WRIT 340 students: Brooks Defrees, Cameron Durham, Zhuofan Fang, Donya Ghyam, Runshi Gu, Yuwan Ho, Kexin Huang, Daya Jiang, Philip Jung, Yunhaoran Li, Nihan Lin, Anaiya Raisinghani, Nancy Ruan, William Song, Mark Stephenson, Terry Tang, Adeline Vanesa, Zhe Wang, Ziran Xia

Wednesday, April 7

10 - 11 am PST | Arduino Blinking LED Project | Seth Goolsby (USC Viterbi Student)

Learn how to put together our very first Arduino Project! We will be using an online simulator to program an LED to blink, and other mini projects as time allows! Capped at 30 middle school students.

11 am - noon PST | Aquatics Robotics Research | Isabel Rayas, Chris Denniston 

Graduate students in the Robotic Embedded Systems Lab will discuss how robots can help understand what's happening in lakes and oceans. We will show pictures and talk about different kinds of underwater and marine robots and their different applications to studying various forms of marine life. We will also talk about our work with these robots and how we work to keep drinking water safe. Open to unlimited students, the presentation will be followed by Q&A.

3 pm - 4 pm | Program Your Virtual Robot! | Jen Lashley of SoLA Robotics 

Learn to program a virtual robot and navigate multiple environments. Complete a maze, create colorful art, or clean a virtual coral reef. Join Jennifer Lashley, Founder of SoLA Robotics. Capped at 20 middle school students.

4 pm - 5 pm | Intro + Demo to VEX Robotics - Think Fast Robotics | Vrinda B of Think Fast Robotics

Think Fast Robotics is a team of high school girls who win robotics competitions. They will run an introductory and demo session for anyone interested or intrigued by the idea of robotics, especially competition at high school/middle school levels. We will demo and explain the world of VEX Robotics and then open it up to you for a live Q&A!

Teammates: Vrinda B. Ruhi B., Sneha M., Jia J., Megan J.

Thursday, April 8

11:00 am - 11:45 am PST | Networked Robots and the Internet of Things | Lilly Clark (Ph.D. student in Autonomous Networks Research Group) 

In the Autonomous Networks Research Group, we work on connecting things - whether this means letting a team of robots work together, computing in the cloud, or connecting all the devices in your house. In this talk we will give an overview of some ongoing projects and let students remotely drive our robots in an interactive game! Capped at 23 middle school students.

Panelists: Jared Coleman, Sampad Mohanty, Prof. Bhaskar Krishnamachari

11 am - noon PST | Aquatics Robotics Research | Isabel Rayas, Chris Denniston 

Graduate students in the Robotic Embedded Systems Lab will discuss how robots can help understand what's happening in lakes and oceans. We will show pictures and talk about different kinds of underwater and marine robots and their different applications to studying various forms of marine life. We will also talk about our work with these robots and how we work to keep drinking water safe. Open to unlimited students, the presentation will be followed by Q&A.

3 - 4 pm | Build a Prosthetic Arm Workshop | Shubham Sharma (USC Viterbi student) 

We'll be making a paper robot arm - students at home will need to have ready access to paper, scissors, string, tape and cardboard.

Monday, April 5

10 - 11 am PST | Robotics: Past, Present, and Future | Gautam Salhotra (Ph.D. student in Robotics Embedded Systems Lab) 

A graduate student in robotics research presents an overview of cool robots we've seen (including TV!) and robots we should expect in the future.

3:30 - 4:30 pm PST | Artificial Intelligence for Social Good | Leena Mathur & USC students of CAIS++

The student branch of USC’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS) will lead an interactive group discussion about (1) how AI can be used to address societal problems and (2) the processes that scientists and engineers use to conceptualize and create AI for social good. Capped at 24 high school students for active brainstorming their own AI-for-social-good initiatives!

Additional Student Members of CAIS++: Shannon Brownlee, Allen Chang, Shantanu Jhaveri, Ben Brooks

Tuesday, April 6

10 - 10:45 am PST | Tour of the Dynamic Robots & Control Lab | Yiyu Chen (Ph.D. student in the lab)

Our research focuses on developing novel control algorithms for achieving extremely agile and robust locomotion on dynamic robotic systems. Our approach lies at the intersection of nonlinear control, trajectory optimization, and machine learning. This article on “Walking, Climbing, Leaping Robots!” from USC News also provides a highlight of our research. Capped at 30 high school students.

11 - 11:45 am PST | Tour of the Dynamic Robots & Control Lab | Yiyo (Ph.D. student in the lab)

12 - 12:45 pm PST | Tour of the Dynamic Robots & Control Lab | Yiyo (Ph.D. student in the lab)

1 - 2 pm PST | iRobot Panel Careers in STEM and Robotics | Lisa Freed 

Listen to panelists from iRobot (makers of Roomba vacuums and Root educational robots) discuss their diverse careers and the many people it takes to make a robot.

3 - 4 pm PST | Flying Drones | Kegan Strawn | Registration: https://act.usc.edu/ 

This talk will begin with a short lecture and discussion on research involving flying drones/general robotics, and showcase the warehouse where the ACT lab conducts experiments. Then in the second part, the audience will collectively control drones in a live-streamed short game. Capped at 30 high school students.

3:30 - 4:30 pm PST | Socially Assistive Robotics for Infant Motor Development | Lauren Klein and Chris Birmingham 

In this discussion, two researchers from the USC Interaction Lab will present their work using robots with infants to encourage exploratory leg movements. We will discuss the robot sensing capabilities and interdisciplinary collaborations that are needed for this type of research.​

Wednesday, April 7

11 am - noon PST | Aquatics Robotics Research | Isabel Rayas, Chris Denniston 

Graduate students in the Robotic Embedded Systems Lab will discuss how robots can help understand what's happening in lakes and oceans. We will show pictures and talk about different kinds of underwater and marine robots and their different applications to studying various forms of marine life. We will also talk about our work with these robots and how we work to keep drinking water safe. Open to unlimited students, the presentation will be followed by Q&A.

3 pm - 4 pm PST | Program Your Virtual Robot! | Jen Lashley of SoLA Robotics 

Learn to program a virtual robot and navigate multiple environments. Complete a maze, create colorful art, or clean a virtual coral reef. Join Jennifer Lashley, Founder of SoLA Robotics. Capped at 20 middle school students.

4 pm - 5 pm | Intro + Demo to VEX Robotics - Think Fast Robotics | Vrinda B of Think Fast Robotics 

Think Fast Robotics is a team of high school girls who win robotics competitions. They will run an introductory and demo session for anyone interested or intrigued by the idea of robotics, especially competition at high school/middle school levels. We will demo and explain the world of VEX Robotics and then open it up to you for a live Q&A!

Teammates: Vrinda B. Ruhi B., Sneha M., Jia J., Megan J.

Thursday, April 8

11 am - noon PST | Aquatics Robotics Research | Isabel Rayas, Chris Denniston 

Graduate students in the Robotic Embedded Systems Lab will discuss how robots can help understand what's happening in lakes and oceans. We will show pictures and talk about different kinds of underwater and marine robots and their different applications to studying various forms of marine life. We will also talk about our work with these robots and how we work to keep drinking water safe. Open to unlimited students, the presentation will be followed by Q&A.

11 - noon PST | Flying Drones | Kegan Strawn | Registration: https://act.usc.edu/ | Zoom: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEpcumuqD4rGtwzXyaVQ7q2KwHja3SIASmK |(FULL- CLOSED)

This talk will begin with a short lecture and discussion on research involving flying drones/general robotics, and showcase the warehouse where the ACT lab conducts experiments. Then in the second part, the audience will collectively control drones in a live-streamed short game.

Friday, April 9

10 - 11 am PST | Human-Robot Interactions: 1) Robotics for Personal Care: Hair Combing | Nathan Dennler (Ph.D. student in ICAROS Lab) | 2) Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality for Human-Robot Interaction (VAM-HRI) | Tom Groechel (Ph.D. student in Interaction Lab) 

1. For people living with limited mobility, doing day-to-day activities can be difficult without the tools designed for their needs in mind. We are focusing on using a generic robot manipulator that can help in other capacities (e.g., eating, picking things up off the floor, etc.) and extending it to the context of hair combing. By learning more about how robots can physically interact with people, we can see how robots might want to behave in situations where they are closely interacting with people, and how they should behave to be both helpful and safe!
2. In this discussion, Tom will talk about and give a live demo of using the Hololens 2 (HL2) to both control a robot and see the robot's sensor readings in the HL2. He will also give a short overview of the quickly growing field of VAM-HRI and what skills students can look to learn to get more involved.

11 - 11:45 am PST| Affect-Aware Socially Assistive Robots for People with Special Needs | Zhonghao Shi & Brandon Tran (Ph.D. students in the Interaction Lab) 

In this presentation, graduate students will present their research on designing affect-aware socially assistive robots for people with special needs. They will demonstrate some examples of the algorithms that enable the emotional intelligence of affect-aware robots, and discuss about how these algorithms can leveraged to personalize mindfulness-based interventions to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Monday, April 5

3 - 4 pm PST | Coding and Coding Careers with Discovery Education | Sarah Johangiry 

Wednesday, April 7

8 - 9 am PST | Coding and Coding Careers with Discovery Education | Sarah Johangiry 

Discovery Education offers a quick, useful overview of comprehensive STEM and Coding curricula and interactive materials. Many LA districts use their materials or teachers can request a trial.

Panelists: Sarah Johangiry, Hugo Encisco, Stacey Ridgeway

3 - 4 pm PST | Diving Into Discovery Education STEM Connect | Sarah Johangiry 

Explore Discovery Education’s Coding resources as we demonstrate exciting ways for students to go beyond learning to code and move into creating their own content. We will then introduce careers that involve coding involving content from EA Madden Sports and robotics with Girl Scouts.

Panelists: Sarah Johangiry, Hugo Encisco, Stacey Ridgeway

Thursday, April 8

8 - 9 am PST | Diving Into Discovery Education STEM Connect | Sarah Johangiry 

Explore Discovery Education’s Coding resources as we demonstrate exciting ways for students to go beyond learning to code and move into creating their own content. We will then introduce careers that involve coding involving content from EA Madden Sports and robotics with Girl Scouts.

Panelists: Sarah Johangiry, Hugo Encisco, Stacey Ridgeway

Friday, April 9

11:15 am - 12:15 pm PST | How to Create a Robotics Program at Your School | Mr. Magallon (LAUSD), Mr. Salinas (i.am.angel), & Students at  Boyle Heights  STEM Magnet High 

Students and teachers from Boyle Heights STEM Magnet High School will give you an inside look at how they developed their robotics program, including instructional practices, help from outside programs, and schoolwide structures.

Video

The Role of Touch in Robotics: Visit the HARVI Lab

Watch The Video

Monday, April 5

3:00 - 4:00 pm | Race, Robotics, and Civil Rights | Chad Jenkins, Maja Matarić, Kendrick Davis | 

Robotics researchers increasingly consider the racialized impacts and experiences of communities of color in the burgeoning fields of robotics and robotics technology. The panelists discuss the relevant civil rights implications and offer recommendations on centering equity in technology development and use. Co-sponsored by USC Center for Race and Equity.

Tuesday, April 6

3:30 - 4:30 pm PST | Jenna Bryant Builds an Arduino Robot on Twitch | Jenna Bryant | https://www.twitch.tv/jb_embedded

Jenna Bryant is the CEO & Founder at Embedded Ventures; she often learns to build hardware projects on Twitch with the help of notable engineers.  Join Jenna along with special guests Jordan Noone (Co-Founder & CTO, Embedded Ventures), Jessie Frazelle (Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Oxide Computer Company) and Darin Gray, Ed.D. (Co-Director K-12 STEM Center, USC Viterbi School of Engineering) as they build a Programmable Arduino Robotic Arm live to celebrate USC’s Robotics Ed Week!

Thursday, April 8

1 - 2 pm PST | Permission to Fail | iRobot Panel 

Join us for an open, honest discussion with iRobot employees on their winding path to a career in tech.  You’ll hear about the stumbles, failures and diversions which are all a part of the path, and some of the hints on how to arrive at a successful career.

Friday, April 9

1 - 2 pm PST | 3D Printing with Robots | Prahar Bhatt & Stella Yoon (Ph.D. students in USC's Center for Advanced Manufacturing) 

This presentation from USC's Center for Advanced Manufacturing will show how robots can be used as 3D printers to make really complex and large parts. The combination of 3D printing and robotics is creating a highly flexible manufacturing process for making composite and metal parts. This technology has potential for in-situ fabrication of parts at remote locations.

3:30 - 4:30 pm PST | Robotics from the Basement to the Big Screen with Fon Davis 

Most of what we know and think about robots comes from movies - Fon Davis of FonCo Studios has been fabricating robots and models for over 40 feature films, including the Star Wars and Terminator franchises, in addition to his work for television and music videos; he is also a celebrity artist on Battlebots, Superfan Builds, Nerd Alert, and much more. Fon shares about making robots for movies plus his own person journey as a part of a disadvantaged minority who uses STEM/STEAM every day in design and fabrication.