Special Event

At 11am ET on 7/31, tune into the livestream of the 2024 Summer Middle School Zero Robotics Final Competition! Co-led by Prof. Danielle Wood, the Media Lab Space Enabled research group, and the Innovation Learning Center, the Zero Robotics program gives middle school educators and students the opportunity to write programs for the NASA Astrobee robot on the International Space Station (ISS). This year, more than 700 students tackled a game challenge called "Lost in Space.” For the fictional game scenario, participants asked the Astrobee robot to help rescue an astronaut after the ISS was struck by space debris. As part of the game and coding strategy, they demonstrated the ability for Astrobee to recognize hand gestures from American Sign Language. This year, five high school interns also helped support the Zero Robotics program; these five interns were sponsored by Media Lab director's fellow Jaylen Brown's nonprofit, the 7uice Foundation.