"Girl powered’ robotics workshop at Google builds skills, confidence

Outside Google’s MP7 building at its Sunnyvale campus, it was a pretty quiet weekend.
But inside, upbeat music was pumping, and the building was bustling with hundreds of teenage girls clad in purple shirts and name tags who all spent the weekend building and testing robots.

Dozens of teams huddled around their plastic toolboxes, which were filled with small screws, sprockets, springs, and plastic and metal components. They worked to perfect their own claw robot on wheels.
This is the second year the Google Girl’s Robotics Workshop has run at the campus. The tech giant sponsors the event and collaborates with the Girl Powered initiative, comprised of members from the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation and VEX Robotics.

The goal of the initiative is to get more girls involved in robotics and science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM fields, at an earlier age.

“Girls, by and large, are underrepresented in robotics,” said Vicki Grisanti, the director of marketing for the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation.
Grisanti said hosting these kinds of workshops can help girls build confidence in a challenging environment.

You’re building communication skills, teamwork skills, problem-solving skills,” she said. “These are all things you can develop at a young age doing these competitions, and you take those skills on into your future career...”

Read the full article at its source: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/12/girl-powered-robotics-workshop-at-google-builds-skills-confidence/