The Annual MassRobotics Robot Block Party has gained momentum and welcomed more than 25,000 guests over the past six years. It has grown to be known as RoboBoston and is a celebration showcasing universities, startups, companies and student teams with cutting-edge robotics, AI and technology. The celebration also includes a career fair, STEM Day, and VIP robotics ecosystem networking reception.

RoboBoston STEM Day, now in its 2nd year, is dedicated to school field trips for grades 7-12 where students can visit with their teacher and includes two hours of interactive activities and demonstrations from mini robotic vehicles, collaborative arms and robotic hands to robotic dogs, drones and flying bionic butterflies.

Over 200 students from Boston Public Schools including New Mission High School, Eliot Innovation School, Donald McKkay, Charlestown High School, and a class from Lowell High School enjoyed several stops in the tents where they were able to observe robots in action, as well as control them.

Thank you to participating companies who helped inspire these students:
  • Analog Devices, a long-time partner of MassRobotics,  brought their mini robotic cars and students were able to drive them, viewing on a monitor what the robots mounted sensors were capable of seeing
  • Students from Brown University’s computer science department set up a VR demo with a robot dog and students go wear the goggles and become immersed in another world!
  • The MITRE Corporation, a MassRobotics partner for many years, brought two experiences for students:
    •  A water tank where students could drive underwater robots that were built during the BlueTech robotics academy we ran as a joint effort between MassRobotis and MITRE.
    • A drone net and obstacle course for students to fly and maneuver drones thru
  • The Massachusetts National Guard has participated in EVERY block party since 2017 as well as both of our STEM Days.  They always bring a variety of experiences and this year was no different.  Students were able to drive ground robots thru an obstacle course.
  • COR-Platform (Collaborative On-line Robotics Platform) facilitated an immersive experience in a collaborative virtual environment by combining physical robots with remote SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and STEM-based instruction. Their platform combines real-world robotic platforms and collaborative problem-solving through online workshop experiences.
  • Boston Dynamics brought two robotics dogs and allowed students to control them with simple gaming-like controls.  They created some tasks for the students that included picking up items and bringing them to a location in the “dog pen”
  • FESTO, last but certainly not least, and also one of MassRobotics long-time partner, brought their pilots here from Germany to showcase their flying bionic butterflies. The Bionic Learning Network takes its inspiration from nature, which solves all the tasks such as gripping and moving.  They had several of these items on hand for students to touch and play with. Learn more about the Bionic Learning Network here.

Check out our MassRobotics 2023 STEM Impact Report here.