Inspiration Abounds with the Digital Lab Robotics Workshop

As a part of Ericsson’s flagship education program, Connect to Learn, approximately 28 Dallas and Fort Worth students this summer participated in a Digital Lab Robotics Workshop where they learned to assemble and code their own autonomous driving robots.

The goal of the camp was to give students a basic understanding of programming logic in the context of robotics by teaching them how to create different outcomes and applying different techniques through coding. At the start of camp students didn’t quite know what to expect and were perhaps less-than-thrilled to have been registered for a STEM-based coding camp over their summer holiday. But as soon as the teams unboxed their robotics kits and started to name their projects, they were abuzz, smiling, collaborating, problem-solving, and learning. The increased enthusiasm with which they appeared each day of camp was evidence of their interest and engagement. At the end of the course a quick informal poll of the students indicated that a majority of participants were now interested in becoming an engineer.

A positive experience for all

But the real question might be: who was inspiring whom? Tony Caesar, Co-Lead for the African-American Alliance Employee Resource Group, said of the volunteer experience, “The Robotics Workshop was one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever been able to participate in.”

Ericsson’s African-American Alliance Employee Resource Group and The Melville Family Foundation (MFF) organized the seven-day summer camp at Uplift Peak (Dallas) and Uplift Mighty (Fort Worth) for students, aged between 11-14 years old. Uplift Education is the largest charter school network in the Dallas/Fort Worth region and is dedicated to providing a college preparatory education to all students in North Texas, currently serving 21,000 scholars across 43 schools. The camps followed all of Uplift’s COVID safety precautions as well as local Texas measures, and were staffed by Ericsson volunteers with support from Uplift teachers. All worked closely with the students to inspire original thinking and problem solving while guiding them through the course content.

“The creativity, collaboration, and joy exhibited not only by the scholars, but by the dedicated Ericsson volunteers, truly created a mind-expanding experience for the scholars,” said Randy Melville, Founder of the Melville Family Foundation.

“We are so grateful to Ericsson and The Melville Family Foundation for providing this fun and engaging Robotics program to our scholars, and because of the program we have more scholars that are interested in engaging in STEM-related education,” said Deborah Bigham, Chief External Affairs Officer, Uplift Education. “Our Scholars’ horizons and opportunities have been expanded because of these two great organizations caring enough to engage with our schools.”

Connecting underrepresented students to STEM

Part of Ericsson’s sustainability and corporate responsibility strategy is to actively contribute to the fourth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which focuses on inclusive and equitable quality education through information and communication technology (ICT), delivering a quality 21st century education and preparing students for a 5G future. Combined with Ericsson’s commitment to Diversity & Inclusion efforts in North America, the overarching goal was to inspire underrepresented students to pursue advanced ICT education and enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

“The best thing about [the camp] was that through this experience, the students saw things in themselves they didn’t know they could do,” Caesar said. “We enabled them to reimagine what is possible for themselves – they inspired each other and they inspired me.”

Digital Lab is a specially curated program for young change-makers and our goal was to provide them a chance to innovate, collaborate, and code in a fun, inspirational, and educational way. In particular, the Robotics Workshop was launched in partnership with The Melville Family Foundation (MFF), whose mission is to improve the lives of children in the southern sector of Dallas via economic stability, food security, and academic excellence.

Ericsson and its partners are already looking to build upon the success of the initial camp. Program leads are already thinking about how they can scale the Robotics Workshop offering to reach even more students – and volunteers – in the months ahead.

To learn more about Connect to Learn, including the program’s four objectives and how it has to date benefitted more than 200,000 students in 25 countries, visit here.

To learn more about the Digital Lab program and how its members are passing on their love of technology to the next generation of learners, visit here.