Why we

Whether traveling across the globe, across town or teaching a robot to dance, the Spelman SpelBots have made the robotics industry both interesting and fun. The SpelBots are an all-female, African-American robotics team at historically black Spelman College, in Atlanta, GA.

The SpelBots made history in 2009 when they became the first African-American all-female robotics team to qualify and win the international robotics soccer competition, RoboCup in Japan. I consider myself fortunate to have the privilege to work closely with an organization like the SpelBots who not only have made history globally, but have also made an even bigger impact on their community.

SpelBots provide hands-on robotics education and research for women and students in computer science. This is particularly important as women and African-Americans are a minority in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries. These phenomenal women compete locally, nationally and internationally at robotics competitions while educating and helping to introduce grade-school students about the importance of math, science and engineering.

SpelBots celebrate Black History Month on Facebook

Andrew B. Williams, Ph.D, is the founder and coach of the SpelBots as well as the Director of the Humanoid Engineering and Robot Systems (HERS) Lab at Spelman College. During the past two months, Everywhere worked with the SpelBots and Dr. Williams to increase their social and digital presence on local and national levels.

Celebrating SpelBots Black History Month Socially

In celebration of Black History Month, Everywhere collaborated with SpelBots to create a social campaign featuring a different African-American woman in computing and technology each day of February on their Twitter and Facebook pages.

Honoring SpelBots on a Local Level

Helping to promote SpelBots Black History Month on a local level, our team worked with Atlanta City Council representative Keisha Lance-Bottoms to honor the SpelBots with a proclamation from the City of Atlanta deeming February 6 as “Young Black Women In Computing and STEM Day”.

SpelBots proclamation from the City of Atlanta deeming February 6 as “Young Black Women In Computing and STEM Day”

Up next for the Spelbots

The SpelBots reflect the great strides that African-Americans and women take in computing and technology. While they travel the world, they never forget their community and the importance of serving as positive, passionate and intelligent role models introducing science and technology to the next generation.

The SpelBots will hopefully make history again as they travel to Mexico City in June to compete against 27 teams in RoboCup.

To follow the SpelBots’ trail of success follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook and visit their website.