Mint & pepper workshops take a fresh approach to widening the STEM pipeline

11-04-2024
We enlisted model cars and alien robots to give a taste of the excitement of working with robotics to kids and teens from diverse backgrounds.
A coach works with a group of children at laptops to control model cars.
The Smart Parking module was a hit at the elpos summer camp for children with attention deficit disorder.

To increase diversity in tech, it isn’t enough to set equal opportunity hiring guidelines. We need to actively work to engage more young people who might not ordinarily think of a career in this field. That’s why the NCCR Automation has been working with outreach organisation mint & pepper to run a series of workshops for children and young people with distinct needs, for example for those with mental or physical disabilities, or with a migration background.  

The mint & pepper workshops are designed to get a broad range of children interested in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and help them to better understand our technology-driven world. During these highly practical workshops, the children develop solutions to real-life challenges, working not only with their heads, but also with their hands. We tailored our setup (for example, by doubling the usual number of coaches per participant) to cater to the specific needs of the participants.   

In July, elpos ADHD, the Swiss association supporting people with attention deficit and/or hyperactivity disorder, ran the module “Smart Parking” at its summer camp in Fribourg. The 24 participants worked to retrofit a classic car with a reversing assistant, using a tiny computer – the micro:bit – together with a distance sensor, and programming their own individual solutions using a graphical programming language. The participants had a lot of fun and were surprised to see how quickly something could be programmed that is actively used in everyday life.  

The same workshop was run in autumn at the Autonome Schule in Zurich (ASZ), a migrant education project. The ASZ’s students come from many different countries and include refugees, rejected asylum seekers and sans-papiers as well as migrants from the EU, and more. The mint & pepper workshop was intended to complement the school’s usual activities (which include free German courses, theatre productions and so on) and deepen their technological skills. And in December, seven children with hearing and speech difficulties tackled the Smart Parking module at Zurich’s Zentrum für Gehör und Sprache.   

In the Alien Dental Clinic, children designed the appearance of their robot as well as controlling its bite.
In the Alien Dental Clinic, participants designed the look of their robots as well as controlling their bites. 

A different module was run in Bern for 13 children aged around 10. The workshop "Thymio: Alien Dental Clinic" was organised by Kidswest, an independent art studio which aims to offer children from socially disadvantaged families with a migration background a free opportunity to participate in Switzerland’s art and cultural scene. This creative STEM activity was an exciting expansion on their usual offering, using the Thymio robot to represent an alien with toothache. After designing the alien, the children had to program their Thymio to bite when touched by a child from the opposite team.  

This collaboration between mint & pepper and NCCR Automation has been very successful, reaching a wide range of children with diverse backgrounds and needs, and giving them hands-on experience of new technologies as well as a taste of the satisfaction of solving robotics challenges. We look forward to running more workshops together in the coming year.