Community Outreach
Art on the Avenue 2023
Held on Mount Vernon avenue, Art on the Avenue is one of the biggest community events in the city, boasting an annual attendance of over 50,000 people! We were elated to participate in Art on the Avenue’s “Kids’ Corner”, showing off our magnus-effect-powered gliders! We also invited attendees to partake in a KEVA building challenge, and attendees were, of course, welcome to drive our robot.
First Thursday October
Hosted at Pat Miller Neighborhood square in Alexandria’s Del Ray, First Thursday is a fun neighborhood get together aimed primarily at elementary school-aged children. We had a blast demonstrating our robot, and inviting attendees to drive it! Our KEVA planks activity was a hit, and we had a ton of fun getting to know our community in a more relaxed setting.
WEBA Best of the West
Hosted at Patrick Henry's recreation center, this event was an excellent opportunity for our team to reach out to the west side of our community! At the event, we ran a robot demonstration where participants were challenged to control our robot and use it to complete tasks. We also ran a STEM challenge activity, and provided information about our team and programs.
Summer Camps 2023
Titan Robotics' annual Summer Camps returned this year with camps for all students grades Kindergarten through 8th grade. Our camp offerings this year included Physics FUNdamentals and Intro to Engineering and Robotics for K-2, LEGO Mindstorms and Rocketry for 3-5, and Java Programming, Mechanical Masters, and Health Sciences for 6-8. We were ecstatic to announce that, through a parnership through AIM-AHEAD, our middle school camps were completely free! This allowed us to provide an opportunity to dozens of students completely free of charge, an opportunity which can often cost upwards of $500 in tuition fees alone.
Department of Energy HFTO Annual Merit Review
One of the most formal events we attended this year, the Department of Energy Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office’s annual merit review was an amazing experience for team members! Most of the attendees were adult professionals, so we didn’t advertise our STEM programs, but rather introduced them to the world of FIRST Robotics. The event was also an educational experience for team members, as we got an opportunity to learn about hydrogen fuel cell technology from the very specialists who are spearheading it.
Tucker Carnival
The Tucker Carnival is an end-of-year celebratory event that we were honored to contribute to! Hundreds of Tucker students and alumni attended the event, and we ran a robot demonstration, where participants could drive our robot, as well as a STEM activity where we challenged attendees to construct bridges from wooden planks without using any adhesives.
IDA Science Unrestricted
This massive event is hosted at the Institute for Defense Analysis Headquarters. The event was a massive success, and we collaborated with FRC team 8230, Koibots. Koibots has been a team that we have worked with very closely, and it was exciting to collaborate with them on this event! We demoed their robot, while we ran a Keva plank-based STEM activity. Our GW FLL and VEX IQ teams also attended this event, and it was exciting for them to get some experience with more formal outreach events. Unfortunately, photography was not permitted in the facility.
YMCA Healthy Kids Day
Hosted at YMCA Alexandria, this event is focused on the all-around health of our youth! Stands were set up offering free fruits and vegetables, and we set up a robot demonstration, as well as information about our STEM programs, providing an opportunity for students to get involved in a positive community of STEM learning free of charge.
PTAC Spring Fling
Located at William Ramsey Elementary school, we were elated to demonstrate our robot at the PTAC Spring Fling. At this event we made a game out of the demonstration, challenging attendees to knock down all of the pins that we placed in their area. We also used this event to advertise our summer camp program.
USPTO Noche De Ciencias
Hosted at the United States Patent and Trademark Office headquarters, we presented alongside another FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) team, and demonstrated our robots, inviting participants to drive them. This event was a massive success, and helped us reach demographics and groups that ordinarily have difficulty reaching, making it extremely important to us.
George Washington Middle School Pi Day
We served two jobs at this event. We were both presenters and mentors. We ran a robot demonstration where participants could drive our robots, but we also helped our FLL teams to run their presentations at this event. For the GW FLL teams, this event served in part as a fundraiser, and so we helped them to organize the fundraiser, as well as their own robot demo.
Patrick Henry School STEAM Night
For this event, we did a robot demonstration, where attendees could drive our robot within a classroom. In addition to the demo, we also brought back our “Tessellations” activity, to really put the “A” in STEAM.
Prexie Robotics Mentorship
We also mentor FLL (FIRST Lego League) teams at George Washington Middle school. We send at least one mentor every week to help students with any questions they may have about robotics, and to guide them through designing their robots. We also supply these teams with funding and some materials, and host mock competitions for them!
AIM-AHEAD STEM Club Mentorship
Every week, we send a mentor to work with the AIM-AHEAD STEM clubs. AIM-AHEAD is a nonprofit organization that we work with regularly, and we’re more than happy to help with manpower wherever needed! In these clubs, students are given an opportunity (completely free of charge) to explore fields ranging from Health Sciences to Robotics Engineering. Using augmented reality technology, they can explore the concepts they're studying in the form of three-dimensional holograms!
Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School Coding Seminar
We visited Ferdinand T Day during the school day for several hours, and gave a coding seminar to three grades of students. There, we walked them through the basics of block coding. This lesson included the fundamental ideas of coding, primarily the need to break each command down into its subsequent actions. Using our favorite “Jelly Sandwich Activity”, we taught students how to think like a programmer. And then, for fun, students got to control our robot to execute their code!
FLL Mock Competition
Serving as a practice competition, our members acted as judges to help Prexie robotics teams gauge their preparedness for competition. Teams ran their LEGO robots autonomously, and were scored according to how many tasks they completed in the set 2 minutes and 30 seconds of time. Members also offered guidance where requested, and offered constructive feedback on the teams' performances.
Spooky Science Expo 2022
Outreach event hosted at the Watergate at Landmark, we demonstrated our robot at this event, while helping to spread information about our K-8 education programs which are available for free to many students. Attendees were invited to drive our robot.