At the Robotics Morning Ex on Friday January 6, the team’s newest robot spun around and threw balls into baskets. As she watched the team explain their most recent creation, upper school science teacher and science department co-chair Elizabeth Druger noticed that the team onstage was composed almost exclusively of male students. Druger decided then and there that she needed to change Parker’s predominately male robotics “industry.”

The Parker robotics team has never had more than two female members out of an average of 17 members on their team, according to coach and upper school robotics teacher Aaron Lee.  The American Society of Mechanical Engineers reports that only 14% of U.S. engineers and 19% of U.S. engineering students are women. Druger plans to improve Parker’s statistics by assembling a brand new, female-centered robotics team.

In the weeks following the January MX, Druger and Lee met several times with Interim Upper School Head and Assistant Principal Ruth Jurgensen to brainstorm ways to encourage female students to pursue robotics and engineering. The “Young Women in Science Club” had been created the 2014-15 school year, but Druger, Lee, and Jurgensen agreed more had to be done. They settled on forming a new team, which will be coached by Druger.

The team will be competing at The Marine Advanced Technology Education Centre Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) competition at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago in April 2018. Prospective team members must enroll in a new class, where they will learn how to make ROVs, an entirely different type of robot than the ones that the current team construct. ROVs are robots that operate underwater. Throughout the 2017-18 academic year, the team will learn about and build robots that can perform various functions while submerged. All students in the class must compete although sessions may be held outside class time if necessary, and competitors must be signed up for the class in order to compete.

“The hope for the class is that girls can develop their interest and skills in the areas of engineering and robotics freely,”  Druger said. “Robotics at Parker and everywhere has a history of being very male-dominated. We want to encourage female students to be interested, excited, and passionate about robotics and engineering.”

The team had its first meeting on March 9, and at least one representative from each grade (excluding seniors, as they will have graduated by the time the team convenes) attended. Druger is creating a course description for the underwater-based team–for now, it is listed as “Robotics” with the same description as the first-semester course, and it offers .5 science credits. To be on the team, you must be in the class.

“I think it’s great that a separate team is being created, and Druger is trying to get more girls involved in STEM because, the more women there are, the less barriers,” ” freshman Anjali Chandel, who is planning on joining the team next year, said.  “I think a lot of women are scared of pursuing topics like engineering and computer programming because of the number of men, and this is a good way to pique interest in girls who may not have wanted to or had the chance to get involved later in life.”

Olivia Garg, the robotics team captain and the only girl on the current team, notes that on the team, gender is definitely an issue. “I don’t think you could get any other girls to join the current robotics team,” Garg said.  “It can be painful. It’s a bunch of teenage boys, so it gets kind of frustrating at times.  And we’ve definitely had a few problems with my being the only girl during my two years on the team.”

Druger notes that the new team is and will be geared toward female involvement in that the core mission and goal of the team is to incorporate more Parker women and girls into engineering.  Druger expects it will run as a primarily female team. Male students will have the opportunity to participate if they have a desire to compete, Druger said, but this is not common knowledge. “I know a couple guys on the current team think underwater robotics is interesting,” Garg said.  “But they think, ‘This is a girls team. I can’t sign up!”

In order for the course to run, a minimum of six students must sign up.

Team members will learn how to program robots, 3D print, and use Computer Aided Design, a different style of coding from that which the current team uses. The teams will continue to run separately in the foreseeable future, according to Druger and Lee.

The Marine Advanced Technology Education Centre ROV competition “teaches high school and university students about ocean-related careers and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills,” according to the flyers Druger has handed out.  “This competition challenges student teams from all over the world to compete with ROVs they design and build.”

Garg is hoping for a time when students can pick the team they want to be on with no gender influence whatsoever. “We should be encouraging girls to join the team in middle school, so that you won’t have to pick a team based on your gender–you can decide whether you want to do underwater robotics or land robotics,” Garg said. “This way, you won’t have a weird situation like mine. I have to decide whether to stick with my team or support these girls because I want to do this new team, but I can’t imagine leaving my old one, and there’s no way to double up.”

Although creating a new team to promote gender equality in the robotics program appeals to some, the fact that it is meant to be by and large “for girls” has raised some eyebrows. “The introduction of the team itself is great, but unspokenly limiting it to one gender is very un-Parker,” Chandel said. “Most clubs here are open to everyone, and although I definitely think there should be a female focus, both genders should be encouraged to participate.”

If the newest Parker robotics team does well at the Shedd regional competition next year, they would advance to Nationals in California or Hawaii. From there, they could qualify for the International Competition in Canada.

“Our current team did a demo with our robots on Grandparents Day for the grandparents, and the grandparents all asked, ‘What if I’m a girl? Can I join?’ because I was late,” Garg said. “And then they started applauding for me being the only girl on the team. I want to get to a point where that’s normal, and I don’t deserve applause. That’s what Ms. Druger is trying to do.”