MassRobotics had the pleasure of having a group of Sophomore students from Madison Park Technical Vocational High School to tour our facilities in partnership with the Design Pathways Program initiated by the City of Boston. This program aims to give students the opportunity to explore how design drives innovation in and around the City of Boston in collaboration with renown local Innovators. The students had an opportunity to speak with Joyce Sidopoulos, Director of Community and Programs, about how robotics, particularly in Boston, are being used in collaboration with humans in the workforce and future applications. Students also learned about NASA’s Valkyrie Robot and the future of employing robots for space exploration and missions.

The students learned about Rethink’s Baxter, a collaborative 2-armed robot designed and manufactured locally and received a demonstration of MITRE’s Pepper robot by our Laboratory Manager, Russell Nickerson. The students were particularly astounded by the capabilities of MITRE’s Pepper as the robot danced to music for them.

One of our residents, Mike McCormack of ORI, a robotics furniture company, showed the students one of their robotic units and a look into the future of small space living. Mike spent some time explaining what really goes into being part of a start-up robotics company.