Scaling Excellence in STEM: Reinterpreting Dean Kamen's Robotics Revolution Keynote at Pan IIT 2024

Back in 1991, when I started at Purdue, I was really into the idea of making learning more hands-on. Making the future and imaginations real. The answers lie in design and hands-on prototyping. Let us dive into Dean Kamen’s talk on FIRST and look at it through a Design lens. Just a couple of days ago, I heard Dean Kamen speak at the PAN IIT 2024 event. His talk really hit home for me. He showed that FIRST is not just about robots. It's about changing how we teach and learn STEM on a big international scale. Let's dive into how Kamen's ideas are opening up new ways for us to learn and grow.

First, he identified the classic STEM problem not as a lack of educational resources, but as a lack of inspiring role models in science and technology. Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to inspire children in STEM through the excitement of robotics. He emphasized his overall vision has not changed from the beginning of FIRST. He did not view it as a contribution to robotics or making a robot, but as a roadmap into engineering. Robotics will always lie at the convergence of many fields, including mechanical design, sensors and electronics, controls, manufacturing, computer vision and AI. He framed it as a sport that develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills. He discussed the cultural value shift necessary to prioritize STEM fields over conventional sports and entertainment. He envisioned FIRST as a platform to celebrate young scientists and engineers. Kamen highlighted the importance of making science and engineering accessible and fun for all children, especially girls and minorities. He stressed the need for diverse role models in these fields.

Kamen shared impressive statistics about the growth of FIRST, including its expansion to 81,700 schools with substantial corporate and volunteer support. This demonstrated the large-scale impact of the program. The FIRST organization must have learnt a lot during this journey and would be great for us to learn more. I have interacted with John Biasi , Purdue ME alum, who worked with Dean Kamen on Segway as well as Deka, I was very impressed by John's inventive and innovative spirit. Clearly Dean Kamen has influenced and created many others like John with a spirit for making things real at scale.?

He introduced FIRST Global, aimed at planting the seeds of STEM in countries worldwide through an annual robotics competition, similar to the Olympics. Kamen emphasized that FIRST is about using robotics as a tool to build better thinkers and leaders, not just about building robots. This aligns with my own opinion of the importance of hands-on, project-based learning over traditional grade-focused education. What part of an application or grading of a student is based on hands-on skills and learning that comes from creativity and inventing??

He urged countries like India to embrace FIRST and FIRST Global to empower their youth and contribute to solving global challenges. We have a lot to learn. We do not incorporate creativity and inventiveness in college and schools that well. Hands-on prototyping, fabrication, and maker skills are hard to institute within programs that are already full. We need to compress and remove a lot of things we are carrying from the past and this change is very slow because of existing curricula and content that no one wants to disturb.. Hands-on design is often stressed in the senior year and the design thread needs greater importance. It creates value throughout the entire chain of concept to real world impact all through innovation. Design at scale is the lifeblood our nations economic value. The value of design coaching is also important. These coaches, lecturers, and faculty that support hands-on education are not widely available and our academic ecosystem needs to treat this thread separately from traditional curricula. Personally I always liked the fun element in designing and making things real.

Dean Kamen’s talk was about design broadly - teamwork, confidence building, and all values he promoted, are indeed a part of the design process. Humans have an innate need to learn through building and making; it's a process that goes beyond mere knowledge acquisition. It's about engaging with the physical world, understanding the interplay of theory and practice, and experiencing the triumphs and challenges of creation. The process of constructing robots, for instance, teaches us not just about technology, but also about problem-solving, teamwork, and innovation. These are deeply human skills that robots, as of now, cannot replicate or replace, but aid in the design process. I will reserve AI and Design for future topics. The act of creation is as much about the journey, the design process, and the engagement and fun it brings about.