Outreach
AIRO's efforts in science dissemination
At AIRO we strongly believe in dissemination activities to the general public. We are convinced that the most innovative ideas and greatest progress are the result of diversity. Diversity arising from different cultures, social contexts, and expertise. To realize this vision, basic scientific and technical literacy is needed for everybody. This is not only interesting for research, but also the public in general. A scientific view of the world leads to more informed decision making and opinions in the social debate. This is of high importance given the challenges humanity faces due to climate change, Industry 5.0, and increasing congestion.
We interact with the public using not only education but also citizen science projects. For instance, to collect training data on the folding of cloth - the project “Help Bubbles do the laundry” was set up in the Krook public library in Ghent. This resulted in a highly diverse dataset, with different folding techniques and speeds, that was used to learn a robot to hold this clothing without human intervention.
Citizen science projects: Bubbles@Krook
Citizen science projects: dynamic game difficulty
Citizen science projects: Pepper@Krook
We also co-organize several activities and educational projects, often as part of research on teaching. One example is Progra-MEER, which trains teachers in computational thinking, algorithms and physical computing. With partners such as Dwengo, we co-organize the social robot competition, the Grip->It competition, WeGoSTEM and AI At School.
In the social robot competition, teams of two to four students from the first and second grades of secondary school design, build and program a social robot that tackles a societal problem, such as loneliness or healthy living. Schools borrow the electronics for free, and a jury selects the finalists. The third edition runs in the 2026-2027 school year, with the final on 26 May 2027 at De Krook library in Ghent. See our news item on the competition.
Grip->It is new in 2026-2027 and aimed at the fifth and sixth year of secondary school. Teams design, build and program a robot gripper that fits on a robot arm, and try to pick up as many everyday objects as possible from a test set. The gripper kit builds on Halberd, the open-source gripper coupling developed at AIRO. The pilot year ends with a first Grip->It competition; see the Grip->It announcement.
The Grip->It gripper on the robot arm, from Dwengo’s teaser video.
The final of the social robot competition at De Krook, Ghent, 27 May 2026. Photo: Yuri Andries, Comon.
WeGoSTEM trains primary school teachers in STEM education through a guided lesson plan in which children build, program and use a drawing robot. MOOC and enthusiastic ICT-buddy are success parameters.
AI At School is an ambitious project that originated in the necessity that young people should understand the digital world and must be able to participate in it well-informed. The AI At School team (researchers and educators) develops lesson materials on computational thinking, programming and computer science, especially artificial intelligence, for the 6 years of secondary school education. These lesson materials consist of several STEM projects, each in another context. These contexts are chosen to be relevant to society, scientific research is involved, and special attention goes to the ethical aspects of artificial intelligence that arise.
