How is drone technology making STEM education more accessible and fun for students of all background?

Rob Harvey is Executive Chairman and Cofounder of For the Win Robotics.  For The Win Robotics fosters critical thinking and lifelong curiosity through the power of experiential STEM and computer science education.  With its Build – Fly -  Code program, the company has developed an innovative education system offering educators new professional development opportunities while making STEM and computer science education fun for learners. For The Win Robotics is currently used in more than 1,000 schools across the United States.  By promoting collaboration, critical thinking and curiosity, For The Win is building essential skills that today’s students need to become the workforce of the future. Rob is a visionary brand builder with more than 20 years of experience elevating unique voices and guiding industry leaders to new technologies. As an executive within the music industry, he defined mainstream culture by breaking 50 #1 songs and promoting artists like Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Drake, and Eminem.

He held influential positions at two major record labels before transitioning to Spotify, where he leveraged real-time data, consumer insights, and customer feedback to champion new business models and elevate brands globally. In the process, Rob helped redefine the record industry as we know it today.

Rob’s ability to amplify brands and identify gaps in the market led him to pivot to education, where he recognized a need for better STEM and computer science-based education technology. As executive chairman, CEO and cofounder of For The Wine Robotics, he pioneered the Build - Fly - Code program and released a first-of-its-kind curriculum to schools across the United States. 

In 2023, For The Win unveiled Hopper, its newest drone, designed for hands-on learning and revolutionizing STEM education by providing the tools to make coding, robotics, and engineering fun and accessible for students.

Developed by a team of aerospace, education and technology experts, Hopper represents the evolution of FTW’s Build | Fly | Code program.  Hopper’s robust, reusable hardware and software is built around a closed, secure system. The drone, powered by a dual-core processor for communication and flight control, features a lens for advanced computer vision technology, including infrared and color capabilities, allowing for Wi-Fi-driven, real-time data and image information transmission. Validated through 889 Compliance, Hopper empowers educators to expand future-additional and hands-on STEM learning to all learners, including underserved communities and students of all abilities. 

In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Rob talks about For The Win Robotics, the Hopper Drone and how new drone technology is enhancing STEM Education.    

Amit Ganjoo is a serial entrepreneur and Founder and CEO of ANRA Technologies, an Award Winning Drone Operations and UAS Traffic Managment Platform provider based in Washington DC.  The company’s platform is used by multiple commercial and government entities for running and managing commercial drone operations.

As advance air mobility efforts accelerate and the use of air taxis becomes a reality, vertiport design and operation is becoming a paramount concern, especially when considering scaling up to meet service demands across many cities and regions.  ANRA Technologies is at the forefront of this discussion with their innovative Vertiport Management System, which integrates disparate data into a single platform to seamless manage the integration and operation of a vertiport.

Amit has over 20 years of aviation, telecom and wireless experience in both the federal and the commercial space. He is an engineer, a licensed pilot, following a lifelong passion in aviation and builds experimental aircrafts.

Until December 2016, he acted as the co-chair for FCC’s Technical Advisory Council (TAC) for 5G and IoT, which included ground and airborne autonomous vehicles. He was the Director of Engineering at and Principal Architect at Ericsson, providing telecom solutions to commercial customers and Federal Government, where he was the recipient of the Athena Award. He was also the Founder and CEO of a Mobile Marketing company from which he had a successful exit in 2009.

Deployed as part of the Expeditionary Strike Group, he was chief system architect for Navy 4G LTE Sea Pilot, delivering a one of a kind turn-key, secure, unmanned airborne/afloat autonomous 4G LTE Network with applications to directly support the war fighter. He architected the first ever approved classified security architecture for 4G LTE in line with NSA Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) framework, approved for operational deployment in DoD in 2012.

Amit is also an adjunct professor at the George Mason University and shares his passion for engineering by teaching in the School of Engineering and volunteers at a local Maker Space in the D.C. area.

In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Amit talks about ANRA Technologies’ Vertiport Management System and how it will help local communities and AAM providers scale up to meet demand.