FIRST Creates Opportunities for Kids to Get Interested in STEM

Rohit and Sidharth Srinivasan, bothers and Co-Founders of Trashbots, joins 'Cheddar Innovates' to discuss how they are building a full robotics platform for kids and schools to create more accessible STEM education.

The Siemens Competition in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math puts the greatest young minds in research to the test. Contestants are judged on their research in topics ranging from better cancer diagnosis to better understanding of black holes, and from cybersecurity to preventing deadly hospital infections. The winning team, made up of Arooba Ahmed, Jillian Parker, and Jiachen Lee, joined Cheddar to discuss their game-changing findings. The trio successfully identified a protein that could potentially play a role in a number of diseases, including Alzheimer's. They explain that their interest in cell division led them to decide this was the right issue to tackle. The finding means they may be able to manipulate the levels of this protein to impact other events involved in several diseases. One of Parker’s main motivations for entering the competition was the under-representation of women in science. She highlights the importance of having a female role model, and hopes to be an inspiration for others. In the finals, the trio were the only all-girl team.

Boston Dynamic's vice president of business development Michael Perry talked to Cheddar about the variety of roles that its robot dog Spot could fill in business — and in the every-day lives of people.