Turning Robotics Education on its Head

Sense Think Act Podcast

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Dan O’Mara, who is the founder and COO of Circuit Launch and Mechlabs. Circuit Launch is a space for hardware entrepreneurs to work in Oakland, California, and Mechlabs is a project–based course to learn robotics. This interview is mostly about Mechlabs, but talks about the origins of Circuit Launch, including how it is not a maker or coworking space and its business model. For Mechlabs, we talk about several of its aspects that make it different than a university education in robotics, including how there are mentors not instructors, how projects are scoped, and how people are invited to work on what is most interesting to them. We also talk about the future of Mechlabs and how it fits with current universities.
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EPISODE LINKS:
– Mechlabs’ website: https://mechlabs.ai/}
– Circuit Launch’s website: https://circuitlaunch.com/}
– Dan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omaradan/}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
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– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
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– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:27) Introducing Dan and Circuit Launch
– (0:06:59) Not coworking or a makerspace
– (0:15:10) Coming to current business model
– (0:20:44) Mentors not instructors
– (0:28:28) Introducing Reachy
– (0:36:00) Scoping projects
– (0:44:48) Scaling their education program
– (0:59:27) If companies paid people to learn
– (1:06:14) Marker 30
– (1:10:14) Importance of having students write documentation
– (1:13:16) Requirements
– (1:21:27) Comparing to today’s universities
– (1:25:35) Role of education
– (1:29:30) Expansion plans
– (1:30:41) Getting in touch
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}