A young engineering student found a way to deliver 150 3D printed robots to students. 

Danielle Boyer is a nineteen-year-old engineering student with a passion for 3D printing and STEM. She’s the founder of a non-profit, The STEAM Connection, which develops accessible educational materials designed to increase thinking and diversity in students. 

Boyer is clearly a busy person, as she is currently working on a double major in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in addition to running The STEAM Connection, delivering public talks and even publishing several books. 

Every Kid Gets A Robot

One of the key products from The STEAM Connection is an inexpensive 3D printed robot design called “Every Kid Gets A Robot” (EKGAR). Evidently Boyer was distressed with the high cost of robots then available to educators, and sought to design one of her own that would be far more accessible. 

The result was the EKGAR design, which she developed in SOLIDWORKS. While it’s a fully functional robot, the key feature is the cost: US$18.95 for a build-it-yourself kit. 

The fact that it’s a kit is by no means a problem for students educators, who will learn even more by building the robot themselves. 

The STEAM Connection will sell the kit at that price, and for qualified requestors, they will provide direct access to the CAD files for those who wish to build or obtain the parts themselves. 

The STEAM Connection At 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020

That’s all good, but there’s something else happening: Boyer and The STEAM Connection have partnered with Dassault Systèmes to feature the EKGAR design at the upcoming 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020 event in Nashville. (Note: this event was previously known as SOLIDWORKS World, and has been renamed this year by Dassault Systèmes.)

Apparently Boyer and her team of four, along with volunteer event attendees, will attempt to assemble no less than 150 EKGAR kits during the event. These will be dispatched to a variety of educational institutions at no charge, including middle schools, K-12 schools and STEAM labs. 

I happen to be attending the event and will certainly drop by, and possibly even try to assemble some robots, if Boyer allows me to do so. If you are in attendance as well, please lend The STEAM Connection a hand with this work, as there is plenty to do. 

Somewhere I suspect there are a group of 3D printers frantically 3D printing 150+ sets of parts for this project. 

Via The STEAM Connection and 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020