Nasa robotics education: Inspiring the next generation of explorers

This article highlights robotics related outreach activities at NASA that are relevant to secondary education, as well as educational robotics initiatives involving NASA and universities. An overview is provided of the work of both the NASA Robotics Alliance Project and Mars Public Engagement, which foster science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education through experiences with robots. Efforts toward sharing robotics software with universities aze also discussed, including results of a study highlighting university needs and preferences regarding robotics hardware and software for education and reseazch. The overview provides a glimpse of NASA’s efforts towazds providing students with multiple entry-points into robotics, working to develop a skilled robotics workforce of the future.