LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Right now students in Kentucky are getting ready for jobs which may not even exist yet. But a good foundation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), will help them prepare.
If you were to walk the halls of Central High School in Louisville, there’s a chance you may pass Reggie.
The teacher’s pet knows how to win over a room.
But the industrial-grade robot is also helping students like Aebba Robele achieve their goals.
“I didn’t know much about engineering before I got here. I had like very minimal experience in middle school. So to be able to get that from here is a very, it’s a really great experience,” Robele said.
Robele plans to attend JB Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville next year.
But right now, he is working to teach Reggie some tricks.
Hopefully soon, Reggie will launch balls and locate nearby objects.
“It was definitely a learning experience because, like, I kind of went off some of the wrong information and had a lot of help on it because like, I got lost multiple times. But in the end, what it amounted to, I’m really proud of,” said Robele.
The high school senior says he enjoys the collaboration and friends he has made through the program.
An aspect he wasn’t anticipating with engineering.
“I used to think it was like everyone just like divided into like different sections of it on their own. So I’m really glad that I got to work in more teams,” Robele said.
Jim Gilbert teaches in the Cyber Engineering Magnet at Central.
He says he is focused on teaching his students skills, such as computer coding and robotics, so they can be prepared for future industries.
“It’s irresponsible for us not to. A lot of the stuff that we’re doing here, even the stuff that we’re teaching, might not be used in 10 years. So we got to kind of train these students for the jobs that don’t even exist yet. And that’s difficult,” Gilbert said.
Robots like these are currently used in fields such as construction, manufacturing and energy and natural resources.
Gilbert added, “Nobody’s going to hire a person who can put together a robotic kit. They need people who can program control, design and manipulate these robots.”
A message Robele seems to understand.
“He’s really preparing us for like jobs that like don’t exist yet. He’s really preparing us for the future,” he said.
The students in this makerspace and Reggie are showing a glimpse of what the future could hold.
The ‘Spot’ robot is created by Boston Dynamics, a company which develops industrial robots.
Central High School is one of only a few schools in the U.S. to have one of these robots.