In 2014, President Obama invited us to the White House! It was amazing to walk into the White House and set up our robots in the Grand Foyer. The President and many others came through to talk with us and see our robots, including cabinet members, senators, CEOs of tech companies, deans of universities, and techno-dignitaries from across America. We met and talked with the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), top officials from NASA and the Navy (who tried to recruit me!), Dean Kamen (inventor of Segway, FIRST Robotics, etc.), Dale Dougherty (Founder of MAKE Magazine & Maker Faire), and many others. The famous rapper/activist will.i.am drove our Mars Rover around the White House! But the best part was when everyone poured into the East Room and the President gave a big speech to the nation. He talked about us as shining examples of American entrepreneurialism. When he asked us to standup, the whole room burst into applause. It was awesome. —Genevieve & Camille
Here we are in front of our robot exhibit in the Grand Foyer of the White House…
Our robot exhibit in the Grand Foyer of the White House…
Here we are with Dale Dougherty, CEO of Maker Media, founder of the Maker Faire, and publisher of MAKE Magazine.
Beatty Robotics in front of the famous portrait of JFK in the White House.
Hundreds of dignitaries and VIPs attended the event. Here, Genevieve is explaining the technical details of the robots to one of the visitors.
The famous rapper/activist will.i.am is committed to science education in the inner cities, so he was one of the people who dropped by our exhibit. We taught will.i.am. how to drive the Mars Rover and our Aluminalis robot around the Grand Foyer of the White House! will.i.am showed intense interest and knowledge in the technology of robots and we talked in detail about his involvement in FIRST robotics and other society-oriented initiatives.
Here is Camille making a little electronic tweak to one of the robots while Genevieve talks with one of the visitors…
It was a great honor to be invited to the White House and to be part of this historic event. We would like to thank the New York Hall of Science for their encouragement and support, and for lending us their “Genevieve” Mars Rover for a few days. We would also like to thank the staff at the White House, all of whom were warm, welcoming, and excellent to work with. We would also like to thank our mom for remembering to take pictures with her iPhone during the exciting chaos of the event. —Genevieve & Camille
Comments (17)
Peter
June 19th, 2014This totally rocks!
David Hofer
June 19th, 2014Truly inspirational. I am proud to know the Beatty family.
David
Peggy Daniels
June 20th, 2014Camille and Genevieve,
Carolina Day School is very proud of you! Keep up the exciting work you are doing.
Becca Heskamp
June 20th, 2014¡Super impresionante! ¡Enhorabuena chicas!
Diane Milner
June 20th, 2014Dear Genevieve and Camille,
WOW! What an amazing opportunity! I am so proud of you two and I am thrilled that our president is recognizing the gifts of your creative minds and the ideas you both have! Let’s plan to share this thrilling trip with our CDS students when we return to school. i can’t wait to hear more about this.
Diane Milner
Aunt Sarah
June 20th, 2014We could not be prouder of you guys !!! I have emailed this to everyone I know and have been bragging because we are related to these amazing girls 🙂
John Douglas
June 20th, 2014Wow, Genevieve and Camille, you all are great ambassadors for young people from our community and the world. I bet it was really cool, although a little nerve racking.
Drew Flint
June 20th, 2014It’s truly amazing where following one’s dreams can take you. What you have built here is simply amazing. You are an inspiring example to follow. Drew
Todd S.
June 22nd, 2014This is great, but for someone whose been following this site, can’t say I am surprised! In fact, the future probably holds even greater successes for these two wonderful girls.
Andrew Terranova
June 23rd, 2014What a wonderful experience! Congratulations to the entire Beatty family.
Mark Symonds
June 23rd, 2014What a great experience for you all! Congrats on a great achievement!
NYSCI | “Genevieve” Mars Rover Visits White House for First Time
June 23rd, 2014[…] See photos from the exciting day on the Beatty Robotics blog here. […]
Sam Ng
June 23rd, 2014What a amazing experience in the Maker fair in White House! Congratulations to the Betty Robotics! I hope Hong Kong should have similar fair in Government House soon….~~
Kenneth Maxon
June 30th, 2014Understanding that wearing capes in the White House is not considered fashionable these days, even without them the three of you are still quite clearly superheroes!
Dawn Medici
July 2nd, 2014Wow this is amazing! Great job girls. So proud of you.
Tony Miller
July 8th, 2014Truly inspirational!!!
sudarsan chokkara
July 10th, 2014What a great and wonderful your experience.so proud of you.