| Abstract | dc.description.abstract | Nowadays, universities are making extensive efforts
to attract prospective students to the fields of electrical, electronic,
and computer engineering. Thus, outreach is becoming
increasingly important, and activities with schoolchildren are
being extensively carried out as part of this effort. In this context,
robotics is a very attractive and effective tool for fostering interest
in science and technology among children and young people and
for attracting them toward engineering. In this article, experience
with different robotics-centered outreach activities in the Universidad
de Chile (UCH), Santiago, Chile, will be shared. These
activities include robotics courses for children, social robots as
keynote speakers, mechatronics design courses, and participation
in international robotics competitions, which contribute synergistically
to the goal of attracting students to UCH’s Electrical
Engineering (EE) Department. Owing to its novelty, the use
of social robots as keynote speakers for schoolchildren will be
described in detail. Experimental results that demonstrate how
sophisticated social robots can be used to foster the interest of
young people in technology will be shown. Altogether, more than
3000 schoolchildren have participated directly in these outreach
activities here in Chile, creating a sizeable impact in this country. | en_US |
