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By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff For iRobot Corp. , this could be bigger than Saint Patrick s Day and New Year sEve put together. The cause for such high excitement? NationalRobotics Week, which this year unfolds between April 7 and April15. The week is not all fun and games, however. Part of its purpose isto get students amped up about the so-called STEM subjects ---science, technology, engineering, and math. To that end, iRobot recently invited some Weymouth students to acompany facility so that they could have a hands-on learningexperience with Genghis, a robot designed as a model for spaceexploration. As founding cosponsor of National Robotics Week, Bedford-basediRobot said in a press release that it plans to do its part in seeking to raise public awarenessabout the growing importance of robots in education, industry, andthe future of the US economy. IRobot is not alone in this effort. During National Robotics Week , more than 135 regional events and activities are set to unfoldaround the country. These events are geared toward K-12 students. For its part, iRobot has an educational outreach initiative calledSPARK --- as in Starter Programs for the Advancement of RoboticsKnowledge. SPARK looks to inspire student interest in STEMsubjects. The company makes two lines of robots. A consumer line of robotscan perform such household chores as washing and vacuuming floors.The company s military robots, meanwhile, can reconnoiterbattlefields and other dangerous areas while troops stay out ofharm s way. With the Pentagon planning to sharply reduce its budget in comingyears, iRobot is exploring new markets as it looks to become lessdependent on military spending. Recently, the company announced itsfirst sale to a domestic nuclear power plant operator. The robots involved in that sale are similar to company models thatwere deployed to Japan last year after nuclear power plants therewere damaged by an earthquake and a tsunami. Commenting on National Robotics Week, iRobot chairman and chiefexecutive Colin Angle said: Robots are a part of our daily lives,providing smarter ways to clean our homes, protect those in harm sway, and extend the independence of our increasing agingpopulation. A celebration of US talent and ingenuity, NationalRobotics Week has emerged as an important platform to highlight thegrowing importance of robotics. Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China OBDII Code Scanner , China Truck Diagnostic Tool, and more. For more , please visit Truck Diagnostic Tool today!
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