The Drone Racing League and Draganfly Create New STEM Program with Woz Ed and Imagine Learning’s Robotify

By AIT News Desk On Dec 21, 2021

Drone Racing League (DRL), the world’s premier, professional drone racing property, announced an expansion of their DRL Academy STEM program in partnership with Draganfly, an award industry-leading drone solutions and systems developer, Steve Wozniak’s Woz Ed, the leader in demand-driven K-12 education, and Robotify, a virtual platform that teaches students about coding using robots. Together, these leaders in technology and education will inspire the next generation of innovators through an immersive and interactive “Science of Drone Racing” curriculum, debuting for middle school students in 2022.

With the United States expected to add 100,000 new drone jobs by 2025, investing in a technology-talent pipeline is crucial for companies to remain competitive. The Science of Drone Racing program will spark students’ creativity, critical thinking and collaboration through hands-on and virtual learning experiences that demonstrate career-pathing opportunities within the drone space.

“We’ve been educating students through interactive drone kits for years now, and the number one request we get from schools is to make a racing drone kit,” said Woz Ed Founder, Steve Wozniak. “The Drone Racing League has a tremendous influence on young sports fans and future tech innovators, and we’re excited to team up to create a drone racing curriculum that ensures learners are job-ready for the most in-demand tech sector openings.”

The Science of Drone Racing course will teach kids how to fly and build racing drones through physical kits and code drones through esports-style programming competitions. Students will also watch professional pilots compete during exclusive DRL Season viewing parties.

“With decades of experience in aviation, robotics, and engineering, Draganfly is excited to support DRL around their game-changing Science of Drone Racing curriculum with Woz Ed and Robotify. We’re thrilled to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders at the middle school level,” said Draganfly CEO Cameron Chell.

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Draganfly, who recently joined DRL as a founding partner of DRL Labs, an innovation hub to develop groundbreaking drone technology, will extend their partnership with the league to also consult on DRL Academy, ensuring authenticity and credibility to course content. Draganfly will leverage aspects of its Drone Pilot Training Program, which was recently adopted by Alabama State University, to inspire the next-generation of STEM leaders at the middle school level. Draganfly executives will also serve as ambassadors for the program to highlight drone-related industries and career opportunities.

“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Draganfly and team up with Woz Ed and Robotify to inspire students for a lifetime through exhilarating and educational drone racing courses. We look forward to partnering with top companies and philanthropic organizations to help kids discover new passions and career opportunities in tech and science while shaping the industry to be more diverse and inclusive,” said DRL President Rachel Jacobson.

To date, Woz Ed and Robotify have enabled millions of students to learn new skills in STEM-related fields. They recently aligned to provide cost-effective, accessible and equitable robotics-based educational experiences in schools around the globe.

“Robotify’s goal is to empower all kids to learn coding in an engaging and playful way,” said Imagine Learning’s Robotify CEO Adam Dalton. “For the first time ever, students and fans of the Drone Racing League will be able to learn about the science behind drone racing through a code learning curriculum and virtual racing competitions enabled by the Robotify platform. The mixture of virtual curriculum provided by Robotify, experience and reach provided by DRL, and physical drone kits provided by Woz ED, make this a truly unique and special partnership to inspire millions of young learners.”

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