Partnering with the Pan-African Robotics Competition in 2021
Black In Robotics is partnering with the Pan-African Robotics Competition in 2021 to:
Attract black roboticists (Africans as well as those in the diaspora) to participate in a shared STEM experience,
Give our mentorship-inclined members an opportunity to help young black roboticists succeed in a scientific pursuit, and
Collect resources to enable and incentivize a STEM competition for black roboticists.
This partnership includes multiple components which will be described in this post.
For Students
PARC serves students from ages 11 and up through their multiple competitions (Techs League, Stars League, Makers League, and Engineers League). While BiR will mostly be helping to support the Engineers League, we encourage our members to share the other leagues with students in their community that they think could benefit from the competition!
For Prospective Mentors
If you have experience mentoring or organizing robotics competitions, then we want you! With our members extensive experience developing robots in academia, industry and more, we would like to offer some of that expertise to the participants of the PARC Competitions through a virtual mentoring opportunity. The opportunity can be organized around your schedule, allowing you to be as involved as you would like.
Please submit this Google Form if you are interested in mentoring in some form!
For Prospective Sponsors
BiR and PARC are interested in multiple types of donations/support that could help this effort make a strong impact on the next generation of Black roboticists including:
Donation of prizes (for example, small robotics kits) for winners of PARC Competitions,
Funds to support the organization of the competition,
Volunteers with expertise in robotics tools (like ROS and Gazebo) to help give students an expert’s understanding of these critical tools,
and more! Please contact the Black In Robotics lead organizers here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to participate as a “Free agent”? (i.e. a participant who doesn’t have a full team but signs up, and is later assigned to a team by the organizers.)
To avoid overburdening the PARC Staff, we won't do the “free agent” idea this year. The minimum number for a team is 2 and max 8, so we hope that you can find at least one other member to join up with!
Are mentors for the Engineers League Competition expected to mentor one team through the duration of both phases? Or will they be reassigned after a phase? Also, are mentors only needed for the Engineers League or can they help in any of the other leagues?
Mentors are normally expected to mentor one team throughout both phases of the Engineers League Competition. BiR will be recruiting mentors only for the Engineers League portion of PARC’s competitions.