Robots for the Streets: How Dr. Carlotta Berry Is Rewiring Who Gets to Tinker, Build, and Belong in STEM
- Carlotta A. Berry, PhD
- 6d
- 2 min read
If there were an engineering equivalent of good trouble, Dr. Carlotta A. Berry has been stirring it into the robotics world for decades — and doing it with open-source bots, community street demos, and a philosophy that rejects hallowed hardware hands-off culture.
When Touch Matters
As an undergrad in the 1980s and ’90s, Berry learned two lessons that would later become her professional north star:
Robots weren’t for students — they were expensive machines behind ropes that only grad students and faculty could touch;
She was often one of the few women and the only Black person in her engineering classes — a stark reminder that representation isn’t a bonus, it’s foundational.
Her reaction? A quietly rebellious vow: If I get to teach, I’ll make sure students actually get dirty hands and real access to robotics. And she’s stuck to it.
Low-Cost, Open-Source, and Everywhere
At Rose‑Hulman Institute of Technology, Berry’s classroom isn’t a lecture hall where robotics is vaporware. It’s a workshop where students build, wire, and program modular, 3D-printed mobile robots that challenge the traditional “watch then do” model of engineering education.
She has pushed this model far beyond campus, literally taking “robots for the streets” — showing them in libraries, schools, museums, and community events from Indianapolis to global audiences. Kids as young as three learn how sensors help a robot “see” and “act,” then get to play with the machines themselves. Adults walk away ready to teach robotics in their own classrooms.
Where Innovation and Justice Collide
Berry’s work isn’t just about access to hardware. It’s about access to identity and belonging. More than three decades after her student days, she saw the same isolation faced by Black women graduate students at a virtual engineering conference in 2020 — and used it as fuel to change systems, not just syllabi.
That recognition led her to co-found Black in Engineering and Black in Robotics — networks that connect, elevate, and advocate for Black talent in the tech world. These communities don’t just exist; they flourish on social media, virtual workshops, and ongoing mentorship that normalizes Black and Brown voices in spaces where they’ve been historically absent.
Beyond the Lab: Books and Culture
Berry hasn’t limited innovation to engineering labs. Her children’s book There’s a Robot in My Closet and its series introduce young readers — especially those from underrepresented groups — to programming and problem-solving through characters who look like them. She also writes STEM-centered romance under a pseudonym, challenging the stereotype that engineers are all suited lab coats and spreadsheets.
The Mission Isn’t Finished
Through academic leadership, grassroots outreach, community networks, and storytelling, Berry’s work stitches together the structural and the personal: robots that teach, and representation that liberates. Her mission is clear — and her method is deliberate: ensure people from all backgrounds see themselves not just as consumers of technology, but as creators of it.
Reference:
This Professor’s Open-Source Robots Make STEM More Inclusive
Carlotta Berry’s research and outreach support hands-on learning
04 Nov 2025
6 min read
IEEE Spectrum February 2026 https://spectrum.ieee.org/berry-hands-on-robotics-education
Comments