Spring 2021 updates

On March 6th, students, teachers, and PiE staff flooded into the Zoom room that was hosting our annual Kickoff event. Even though the environment this year was completely virtual, the atmosphere of excitement and anticipation remained the same. This year we had the pleasure of hosting our keynote speaker, Nicholas Weaver, who gave a very inspiring talk about the new technological opportunities and challenges that are now available to anyone who is interested in pursuing them. Weaver also gave insightful advice about the design process and how programs like PiE are able to provide students with a great opportunity to design and learn by experience.

Although this year’s competition season will be unlike any other, the students were still interested and engaged with what we had in store. After a long year of preparation, testing, and hard work, PiE staff presented this year’s game: World Tour. In this competition season, students will have the opportunity to work on coding challenges, use 3D modeling software to design an end effector, and remotely drive a robot through a track. The track features four different biomes, each with their own obstacles and challenges. 18 teams will compete, and each team will aim for the fastest time.

After the reveal of this year’s game, Kickoff concluded with a variety of workshops and an opportunity for students to drive a test robot remotely. With three more events to the competition season, we’re excited to see what the students come up with!

We want to thank everyone who supported us at Berkeley’s Big Give event! In just 24 hours, we raised over $3410. This means we can continue on hosting our robotics competitions, providing mentorship, and scholarship opportunities for our students. PiE staff appreciates your help, especially during these difficult times.