Welcome to National Robotics Week 2015, also known as RoboWeek. Made official by Congress in 2009, National Robotics Weeks offers a range of activities to students from elementary school through college, all in an effort to show how much robots have changed our lives over the generations and to point out the vast creativity that goes into robotics.

The purpose of National Robotics Week is to celebrate the US as a leader in robotics technology development, to offer education on how robotics technology impacts society, to advocate for increased funding for robotics technology research and development, and to inspire students of all ages to pursue careers in robotics and other STEM fields. Design News will feature a plethora of coverage on robotics this week, in recognition of the event.

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The Advisory Council for the National Robotics Week – which includes a number of tech companies as well as museums and STEM organizations – has assembled a number of RoboWeek activities, events, and resources:

RoboWeek on Facebook

National Robotics Week has also created a RoboWeek Facebook page to keep teachers and students apprised of the week’s activities and events.

Robot trading cards

iRobot teamed up with IEEE Spectrum and the Institute for Robotics & Intelligent Machines at Georgia Tech to create a set of Robot Trading Cards. This deck features ten famous robots developed by companies and researchers in the US along with facts about each.

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Robot events around the country

National Robotics Week will present RoboWeek Events in all 50 states. The student-friendly events range from seminars from museum displays and robot competitions to seminars and conferences.

Activity book for elementary schools

The Advisory Council for RoboWeek has also provided an online classroom Activity Book to help teach elementary school students about the power and creativity of robotics.

Rob Spiegel has covered automation and control for 15 years, 12 of them for Design News. Other topics he has covered include supply chain technology, alternative energy, and cyber security. For 10 years he was owner and publisher of the food magazine, Chile Pepper.