The School of Engineering of the University of Valencia (ETSE-UV) hosted an educational event on Friday, May 17, in which more than 1,000 high school students showed social drones, animation shorts and humanoid robots, as a result of three Educational Innovation projects. They are The Air Fair, MOMO and Program your work, which have been developed during the course in secondary schools in the provinces of Valencia and Castellón.
During the presentation, Francisco Grimaldo, deputy director of the School of Engineering of the University of Valencia, has evaluated the work of high school students participating in the three activities: “We make engineering to improve people’s life, and your work, your contribution, is very important in this sense, because it adds environmental, solidarity or inclusive nuances to it”.
Ángel Ribera Hermano, Head of the Department of Educational Registration and Accreditation of the Department of Education, has highlighted the role of women in Engineering: “25 years ago, there were hardly any women. It is very important that today you can come to an act like this at the ETSE and be a girl the one talking about a technology project”.
For his part, Tomàs Queralt Llopis, head of the Permanent Training section of CEFIRE (Department of Education of the Regional Government), thanked the students for their interest in getting to know the University, and the teaching staff for helping make possible today’s three projects of educational innovation.
Ricardo Domínguez, director of El Caleidoscopio, highlighted “the expectation and curiosity of participating students to see the work presented by other centres”. “It’s a day to enjoy these collaborative projects”, he said.
The event took place between 9.30 am and 2 pm. In it they presented the social drones and short films in stop motion and with humanoid robots actors or actresses that the students have made with the help of the 170 teachers who have been involved in the projects and who have previously been trained for this purpose.
For projects, the Air Fair reaches this year its 5th edition and aims to enable students to build, configure and fly a drone to which they must apply a social or environmental purpose that resolves a situation in the most immediate environment. This project had 3 distinct zones on the 17th: an area of stands, where each centre had its own display and drones had shown; a flight zone; and presentation rooms where the students defended their work.
MOMO is a project that aims to make an animated short film with a social or environmental purpose. An educational initiative that combines 3D printing, digital electronics and art and with which students have learned not only animation techniques such as stop motion but also to build a video filming system such as a slider or robotic arm by means of a 3D printer and to program the movements of this system with Arduino and digital electronics. In the event each centre will have a stand where they will show decorations, slider, robotic arm and other elements created for the making of the short film that students have directed and designed. In addition, the Graduate Hall of the ETSE hosted the premiere of the shorts with the projection of all of them.
Program your work is a project that integrates robotics and cinema. Students has learned to program a humanoid robot that must appear as an actor or actress in the short film devised from beginning to end by them. All the short films of this project has been screened, also for the first time, on the day of the event in the Graduate Hall of the School of Engineering of the University of Valencia.
The Air Fair, MOMO and Program your work are an original idea of El Caleidoscopio, a company of the Science Park of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and has the collaboration of the University of Elche, the Unit of Scientific Culture and Innovation and the School of Engineering (ETSE) of the University of Valencia, the University of Alicante, the Autonomous University of Madrid, CEFIRE and the CTIF, the Territorial Innovation and Training Centres of the Ministry of Education of Madrid.
All the projects started in October and November, and it has been possible to carry them out with the support of the Councils of Education of the Town Councils of Albaida, Albalat dels Sorells, Albuixech, Algemesí, Alpuente, Alzira, Benifaió, Benetússer, Bétera, Burjassot, Carcaixent, Catadau, Cheste, Cullera, Emperor, Foios and Massanassa. The consistories of Meliana, Monserrat, Moixent, El Puig, L'Olleria, La Pobla de Farnals, Picassent, Quart de Poblet, Rafelbunyol, Ribarroja, Sedaví, Ontinyent, Paiporta, Puçol, Requena, Almassora, Nules and Torreblanca have also collaborated.
In addition to the Valencia event, it is expected that on May 24, the University of Alicante will also host the event of the three projects.
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