Robotic Stereotypes

Ninety-five percent of the people in the United States have some sort of tie with mobile technology. Knowing this, as you walk down the halls of our school nearly all of the people you see rely on technology--and the people who do their best to push the limits of what it, and we, can do are all too often portrayed inaccurately. In today’s society, stereotypes can spread like wildfire and be just as hard to “put out.” Resulting, this is likely due to the fact that stereotypes are based on some sort of truth--coming from somewhere. Moreover, stereotyping does not imply that all members of a group are seen in these ways, only that a “typical” member of a group can be thrown into such judgements, but still possess the obscure characteristics of

The field of robotics goes beyond that as it overlaps with electronics, computer science, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, nanotechnology and bioengineering. The world of robotics automation is growing with robotics and technology being some of the fastest growing industries in the world--accounting for trillions of dollars in revenue. Dante Chinni claims that, “Apple, meanwhile, is more valuable than any [other company], and at roughly $900 billion is the most valuable public company in the history of the world.” However, robotics and technology are not only implemented in the workforce but in the education system as well. FIRST--For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology--is an organization that promotes STEM--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics--starting as early as the age of 6 with their FIRST Lego League Jr. program and continues through middle and high-school levels up to age 18 with programs such as FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition. Madera High School offers just this opportunity. The Madera High School robotics team--MadTown Robotics Team 1323--is a FIRST Robotics Competition team and in FRC, competitors see robotics as a “sport for the mind.” Robotics is just that. As a team, students work together to conceptualize, design and build a robot with an intense six-week

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Owner of West Coast Products. Personal Interview. 3/3/18 resulted in near identical answers. Being asked “What stereotypes come to mind when I mention the high school robotics team?” produced an answer including the stereotype that most people think the kids on these teams are mostly nerds, antisocial, are consisting of mostly males, and are all non athletic. When asked why he thought that Ranjit replied, “This group is probably labelled that way because to most people, when they think of engineering oriented groups of people it is often concluded they are very complicated and require a specifically dedicated mindset where an individual essentially cuts off the outside world in order to complete the task at hand. This results in the antisocial behavior stereotype and difering actions to those not in the field of robotics.” And when asked “What are the members of the team actually like?” he responded by stating, “The truth is that they are just normal people, well some are. The students on most other robotics teams are kinda weird. They dress up in costumes to represent their schools even though their team isn’t very good at the competitions, shout out team cheers that are honestly cringy, and even get excited for achieving tasks that we “could do in our sleep.” While most are like this, the group that are “normal” are indeed normal act like anyone else would and work as a team to