Howdy, I am known to many as the RobotGrrl. I started building robots when I was 13, with a Lego Mindstorms kit. Since then, my passion and energy for this exciting and challenging art form has been growing. Through numerous science fair projects and hobby projects, this website is all about documenting what I am doing, aiming to share the learning process and the acquired knowledge with others.

One of the areas that I am most interested in is sociable robotics. How can a robot interact with a human better, such that it seems like there is no barrier between the two? Alternatively, how can we pronounce this communication barrier more, in order to show that the robot is a sepperate species, and comes from a different culture? The depth of sociable robotics is immense, which makes it mesmerizing with its endless list of questions.

I have started research on sociable robotics by building an artificial society platform, whereby the robots can become socialized. There is very little human-related biases inputted into the algorithms because we want to see what sort of behaviours will emerge and how it will show evidence of a “robo-culture”. Having a robo-culture embedded into a robot will become extremely important. Currently, robots do not come from a culture, they do not have traditions or stories that have been passed through generation to generation. When a robot will be able to have a discussion with you, and detail some of its history, a bond will be formed between the robot and human, since the human will be able to relate more with the robot. If you wish to read more about my research, click here.

If you would like to discuss more robotics with me, feel free to drop me an email or comment on the blog posts! Remember, those who can see the invisible, can do the impossible!

Have a question, thought, or idea? Send me an email sometime!

Featured Activities & Accomplishments

Outreach & Activities

2011

• RoboBrrd build-a-long video series (electronics sponsored by Adafruit Industries- thanks!)
• Mentor for FIRST Robotics Competition Team 296
• Host the weekly Robot Party online broadcast

2010

• Created interactive Twitter display for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Dinner hosted by Clarkson University
• Mentor for the FIRST Robotics Competition Team 229
• President of the Clarkson University Autonomous Robotics Club

Fall 2009

• Leader of the first annual Girl Scout Robotics activity hosted at Clarkson University
• Mentored local FIRST Lego League and FIRST Tech Challenge teams
• President of the Clarkson University Autonomous Robotics Club

Summer 2009

• Clarkson University Honors Program Summer Research (Social Robotics)
• Assistant for FLL robotic workshop at Clarkson University for teachers in St. Lawrence County
• Assistant for robotics summer camp (Grades 4-7)
• Assistant for Horizons I and II robotics activity

Spring 2009

• Mentored FIRST Robotics Competition Team 229 (through Spring 2010)

Presentations

• Theming your Physical Computing Projects! (Parsons The New School for Design, NYC, September 2011)
• Recycling and mesh robots (Banff Centre presentation, Banff, Alberta, July 2011)
• Ethical Dilemmas of the 3 Laws of Robotics (Freshman Clarkson University Honors Program Class)
• Socializing a Social Robot with an Artificial Society (Poster presentation for Clarkson University’s SURE Conference in Summer 2009)
• Social Robots (PechaKucha Montreal, QC presentation, May 2009)

Honours & Awards

2011

• Maker Faire NYC Editors Choice Award
• Invited to & presented at international workshop on recycling pervasive media and e-waste at the Banff Centre, in Banff, Alberta
• Awarded a student scholarship to attend Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC)
• Stwutter #5 Social Networking (Paid) in Mac App Store (US, April 20)
• Won morning contest at Confoo YellowAPI HackFest
• Yelling Robot #1 Entertainment (Free) in Mac App Store (US, Jan. 6)
• Yelling Robot #11 Top Free in Mac App Store (UK, Jan. 6)

2010

• MANOI, hockey playing robot, shown on Discovery Channel
• Winner of Pi Mu Epsilon Sophomore award for Computer Science, presented at Clarkson University’s Recognition Day

2009

• MANOI, personal humanoid robot, shown on Discovery Channel
• Guest on the internet TV show: Fat Man and Circuit Girl (it’s really cool)
• Accepted into Honors Program at Clarkson University, Potsdam NY
• The Clarkson School 4.0/4.0 GPA Award

2008

• Top 10 Dvice MAKE Cylon Competition
• Certificate of Recognition For Outstanding Effort and Participation in the Regional Science Fair, Kuper Academy
• Silver Medal Finalist Bell Montreal Regional Science & Technology Fair

2007

• Gold Medal Finalist Bell Montreal Regional Science & Technology Fair
• McGill University – School of Computer Science (Robotics) Award
• Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal Award

Features on Websites:

• IEEE Spectrum – RoboBrrd Highlight Reel: RoboBrrdalicious [link] (Dec 2011)
• NFC Rumors – NFC robot project shows the future of toys [link] (Nov 2011)
• Adafruit Industries – Make Your Own RoboBrrd! [link] (Nov 2011)
• Arduino Blog – Matatino Lets Arduino Connect To Your Mac Apps [link] (Nov 2011)
• Dangerous Prototypes – Matatino lets Arduino connect to Mac apps [link] (Nov 2011)
• Adafruit Industries – #ADA11 – Erin RobotGrrl, Robot builder and iOS & Mac developer [link] (Oct 2011)
• MAKE Blog – A RobotGrrl and Her Bots [link] (Sept 2011)
• Maker Masters – Teen Scientist shows how to control Robots with an Ipad [link] (July 2011)
• Maker Masters – Teen Roboticist Controls Robot from Ipad [link] (July 2011)
• Maker Masters – Meet RoboBrrd [link] (July 2011)
• Maker Masters – Meet Robotgrrl – Making Robots from Popsicle sticks and Arduino. [link] (July 2011)
• Adafruit Industries – Adafruit + RobotGrrl Team Up [link] (March 2011)
• Adafruit Industries – Refurbishing a Robot using Motor Shield and MintyBoost [link] (July 2010)
• MATLAB Central (Link Exchange) – Arduino to Matlab – Read in sensor data! [link] (Jan 2010)
• The Amp Hour – The Amp Hour #12 — Dave Is Back And Blogging! (they mentioned the Robot Party) [link] (Oct 2010)
• BotJunkie – Merry Christmas (Or Whatever) From BotJunkie [link] (Dec 2009)
• MAKE – Hockey playing robot looks meaner than Gretsky [link] (Nov 2008)
• DVICE – Styrobots: Stanford student bankrolls her tuition with adorable robots [link] (June 2008)
• uCHobby – RobotGrrl Styrobots Arrive! [link] (June 2008)
• Robots.net – Help Send RobotGrrl to Stanford [link] (June 2008)
• RoboJenny – Interview with RobotGrrl [link] (June 2008)
• MAKE – MAKE Flickr pool weekly roundup [link] (June 2008)
• Robots.net – Random Robot Roundup [link] (June 2008)
• Nucleus Learning – RobotGrrl [link] (June 2008)
• uCHobby – RobotGrrl needs our help! [link] (May 2008)
• MAKE – Build a BristleBot to clean up your apartment [link] (March 2008)