Webinar “Robotics for Good Youth Challenge Launch: Disaster Response”

Changes in the global climate system are exacerbating the risk and intensity of large-scale natural disasters. With tragic effects resulting from unprecedented heat, drought, cold and wet conditions, such as torrential rains, mudslides, flash floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and wildfires, robots can provide a rapid and accurate response in finding survivors when every minute counts.

Autonomous machines are reducing the exposure of first responders to dangerous emergencies, rendering disaster relief safer, more efficient, affordable and carbon-neutral. Robots accelerate search and rescue operations and assist disaster responders with geological mapping, damages assessment, rubble removal, delivery of medical supplies and much more.

Join AI for Good on the International Girls in ICTs Day, April 25th, for the launch of the Robotics for Good Youth Challenge 2024-2025: Disaster Response. This new, UN-based competition invites teams from around the globe to design, build, and code a robot centered on the theme of disaster response. Hear from Girls in ICTs and Women in AI and robotics about the significance of STEM skills and how they are building robots addressing sustainable development challenges.    

What is the robotics for good youth challenge? 

The Robotics for Good Youth Challenge is an UN-based educational robotics championship that every two years is inspired on a global challenge in relation to which robots offer practical solutions to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   

Participants design, build and program a robot that completes a mission based on one of these goals. While learning robotics and coding, students gain more than just technical know-how, but also vital working-life and future skills, including but not limited to teamwork, problem-solving, project management, critical thinking, and information retrieval.  

The competition fosters free-software and hardware robotics, allowing unrestricted assembly and programming of the robots. It aims to promote inclusivity, enabling learning in robotics and coding regardless of gender, socio-economic status, or academic ability. Additionally, it encourages the use of recycled materials and environmentally friendly solutions, emphasizing the development of sustainable robots.  

Date and time: April 25th, at 16:00 CEST Geneva | 10:00-11:30 EDT, New York.

Programme

Opening remarks by:

Francesc Pedró, Director at the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC)

Jenty Kirsch-Wood, Chief of the Global Risk Analysis and Reporting Section at United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

Erica Allis, Senior Programme Officer at WMO, WMO

Panelists

Robin Murphy, Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University

Boipelo Moraka, Chief Drone Pilot at South Africa Flying Labs

Alice Agogino, EO at Squishy Robots and Professor Emeritus in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley

Karishma Muthukumar, Student at University of Cambridge

More information and registration to the webinar here