Kuriosity Robotics

PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL junior Albert Cai holds up a sheet of plastic transparency film used for laser printers as he explains how Aside from participating in robotics, Kuriosity Robotics works on community projects, which Cai hopes is what makes the team stand out. difficult it was for his robotics team to find “Other FTC teams view us as a team materials to build face shields. with a really good robot, but we also re-

“A lot of people have the idea of mak- ally pride ourselves on our impact on the ing facial shields, so this led to literally ev- community,” Cai said. “All the classes, all ery plastic thing being out of supply,” Cai the summer camps and the face shield inisaid. “We take pride in finding this mate- tiative.” rial, which is basically transparency films. With the face shield initiative, the ... They’re like the perfect size for the face robotics team was able to give back to the shields.” community by creating and distributing

Originally created in 2015 as a pro- more than 5,000 face shields to local hosgramming club for a group of friends, Kuriosity Robotics is a team of Bay Area high school “Other FTC teams view us as a team with a really good robot, but we also really pride pitals. Junior Austin Xiang is part of the build and business substudents who use their technology ourselves on our impact on team of Kuriosity Robotics. He skills to execute the community.” believes Kuriosivarious initiatives ty Robotics’ next that help the com- — ALBERT CAI, Kuriosity Robotics member step should be to munity, the most shift their focus recent of which was making face shields for to creating a summer camp to involve more local hospitals. students in STEM.

The robotics team primarily partic- “As a team, we just want to give everyipates in the For Inspiration and Recog- one who has access to the internet a quality nition of Science and Technology Tech STEM education,” Xiang said. “We know Challenge robotics competition, a robotics that usually when things are in person, we competition consisting of middle school have to find venues … but with it online and high school robotics teams. Last year, you just have so many more opportunities Kuriosity Robotics qualified for the FTC to teach people who, as long as they have World Championships, but were unable access to the internet, can all come to our to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions. courses.” Sophomore Arthur Balva ac-

WORKING WITH KURIOSITY — A member of Kuriosity Robotics peers knowledges that being in the heart of Silicon Valley, there are many down at the work of his avid summer other prominent STEM campers. “In past years, we did an OK summer programs. Acjob at running the summer camp, but I think this year, our goal was to engage them [campers] more, and so in our cording to Balva, what makes Kuriosity Roplanning this year, it’s super project based,” Arthur Balva, a Kuriosity-

Robotics member, said.

Photo: Tram Phan botics unique is that all of the teachers are high school students.

“Through experience at school, we know what it’s like to be learning online, unlike some other programs, where it’s just adults teaching who haven’t actually done much online learning during the pandemic,” Balva said. “So we have learned throughout the year what methods are actually effective for students online.”

Beyond the advantages of being a group of high school students, Kuriosity Robotics is looking to inspire more underrepresented groups to participate in STEM, and even join their robotics team. Currently, the team has ten male members, but only one female member, and a majority of the staff is Asian.

“Another reason why we’re doing these camps is potential recruitment,” Balva said. “With these camps, I hope we can inspire more girls and people of other ethnicities to explore the STEM field more.” v