Empowering the Next Generation: Shaping Today’s Youth into Tomorrow’s Leaders

When I was 12 years old, my biggest achievement was climbing the tallest tree in our neighborhood. Today’s youth have a much broader world view. 

They’re not only climbing trees, but also building robots—turning their attention towards much higher levels of intellectual pursuits. 

The playgrounds and the backyards are no longer their only arenas of exploration. Their curious minds are delving into the world of robotics, coding, and engineering. They are creating and experimenting and innovating, letting their thoughts run free and coming up with innovative solutions. They have limitless potential, and the future of technology lies in their hands.

At TITAN Haptics, we believe that it’s important to empower and support the next generation. We want to provide them with all the tools and resources they need to let their creativity shine, and we want to foster a culture of curiosity, and create an environment where they can explore, learn, and grow. We believe in not sitting still—embracing uncertainty and making mistakes as a means to constantly innovate and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Recently, TITAN Haptics mentored the BossBots, a group of five 7th graders participating in the FIRST Lego League Program.

The FIRST Lego League is a program that provides hands-on STEM learning opportunities for children aged 4-16. Operative in 110 countries globally, the program has had over 679,000 participants since its inception in 1998. The goal of the program is to offer enjoyable yet meaningful learning experiences that enhance students’ critical thinking, coding, and engineering capabilities, so they can contribute to a brighter future. 

The BossBots’ project revolved around a challenge: “How can you use technology and the arts to help engage others or increase participation in what you love to do?” The team had narrowed down their focus to engaging people in playing music, and created a survey to figure out what barriers people have to playing music and what might encourage them to pay more often. Their innovative solution was to use haptic technology to create “instruments” that could be played in a virtual or augmented reality setting. They also wanted to use haptic feedback to tell whether or not a note is played correctly, which could thereby help people to better learn instruments.

The TITAN Haptics team is incredibly proud to have been a part of the BossBots’ journey and we hope that they’re able to win the nationals. But regardless of the outcome, we are confident that this experience has equipped them with valuable skills and knowledge that they can carry forward into their future endeavors. Their passion and innovative thinking are a testament to the potential of the younger generation, and we are excited to see how these bright young minds will contribute to the haptics industry in the future. 

Good luck to the BossBots team!

We also want to encourage others to embrace mentorship, as we believe in supporting the upcoming generation of innovators, creators, and engineers. It is an opportunity to give back, inspire, and shape the future of technology. The youth have crazy, wild imaginations, which allows them to come up with new solutions to old problems. They’re not afraid to fall and make mistakes.

If you are a professor, teacher, or any educational professional interested in teaching haptics to your students, please feel free to reach out. We at TITAN Haptics have an educational program, and we’d love to work with you.