Robotics & turkey 2025 Post-Conference Press Release
For Immediate Release: December 1, 2025
Robert D. Jones
Hand & Mind LLC
203-550-3051 mobile
ARCHAEOLOGY OR UNDERSTANDING OUR STORY THROUGH PHYSICAL REMAINS WAS CENTRAL AT ROBOTICS & TURKEY 2025, THE 3-DAY YOUTH ROBOTICS CONFERENCE IN TRELAWNY, JAMAICA FEATURING 4 SPEAKERS, AN ENGAGING FIELD TRIP & RESILIENCY AFTER HURRICANE MELISSA.
The international conference broadens the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) talent pipeline by engaging children aged 9-14 yrs. old, particularly girls and children of color.
The 3rd annual Robotics & Turkey Conference (R&t) returned Thanksgiving weekend—Thursday, November 27 to Saturday, November 29, 2025—at the all-inclusive Ocean Coral Spring Resort in Trelawny, Jamaica. The resort sustained only minimal impact from Hurricane Melissa in late October 2025 and fully reopened on November 7. Some of the Hurricane Melissa relief and recovery projects supported by R&t participants are cited in the opening message in our conference journal and in the video posted below:
Hurricane Melissa Relief: Cambria School of Excellence brings school supplies to Beulah All Age School
Featured in Forbes and endorsed by the Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services at MIT, R&t blends robotics, research, and cultural exploration. This year’s theme mirrors the 2025–26 FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) robotics season: “UNEARTHED: Explore the artifacts of the past to uncover clues about how we live, learn, and celebrate.”
The 3rd annual Robotics & turkey had an in-person audience of +30 representing 17 different robotics teams from United States (11) and Jamaica (6). US-based robotics teams represented were KIPP NYC (7), Cambria Warbots, Bronx EFKs, rookie team Novel Minds, and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team Saunders Droid Factory. Jamaican teams were New Day Primary, Beulah All Age, Pike Primary, Operation Rescue Christian School, Campion College FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), Jamaican National FIRST Global Competition (FGC) team. Forty-seven % of the in-person registrants were female.
The conference opened Thursday evening with Evelyn Thompson, former head conservator at the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, receiving the 2nd annual Pioneer Award which recognizes her three decades of expertise in archaeological preservation and education.
Evelyn Thompson receiving 2nd annual Pioneer Award
Dr. Lesley-Gail Atkinson Swaby, archaeologist and lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona, followed the presentation of the pioneer award with her lecture and “hands-on presentation entitled “Archaeology Unearthed”.
Robert Jones led an early Friday morning workshop on improving robot design presentations using tri-fold poster-boards and providing audience feedback to a robotics team’s draft innovation project presentation.
This was followed by the early Friday morning speaker session where Ms. Thompson delivered a lively presentation entitled “Conservation & Robotics”.
Principal of Eagle Wings School, Mrs. Consuelo Ricketts and her husband Mr. Neville Ricketts with Mr. Orville Daley (Coach of Jamaican National Team, FIRST Global Competition), Mr. Rithvik Gogineni (member of Campion College FIRST Technical Challenge and member Jamaican National Team FGC), and Mr. Robert Jones. Despite Eagle Wings suffering hurricane damage, the school plans to start a FLL robotics team
The Friday late morning speaker was Alexander Lowe, an 11th-grade student at Saunders Trades & Technical High School in Yonkers, NY. A former FLL participant and member of his high school’s FRC team Saunders Droid Factory, Alexander presented his 2025 summer research on “Vision-Guided Autonomous Navigation for Robots Using AprilTags and PhotonVision” conducted under the mentorship of an MIT Computer Science PhD student. A Jamaican school delegation won Alexander’s Spike Prime robot kit that he offered as a quiz prize.
Together, Dr. Atkinson Swaby & Ms. Thompson led an engaging field trip Friday afternoon to Seville Heritage Park, home to Taíno, Spanish, and British colonial sites. Later that evening, after dinner, conference participants divided into 3 groups, prepared field-trip reports that will be shared by our conference delegates to their entire home teams.
Tony Reid of NYC-based Drone Cadets LLC virtually delivered a pre-recorded video presentation on “Eyes in the Sky: How Drone Technology is Revolutionizing Archaeological Discovery.” That was viewed and appreciated by conference participants late Friday night.
The highlight of the 3rd and final day was the networking session where participants broadened and deepened relationships. Some participants received college and graduate school application advice while others brainstormed leads for summer job and internship opportunities. Some of the advice and work leads are advertisers in the conference journal. Lilieth Jones, mother of Robert Jones, provided inspiring personal remarks that closed the conference.
Networking
R&t hosts FLL robotics team delegations from Jamaica and the United States (primary, prep, elementary, and middle schools), including winners of Jamaica’s 2025 FLL Championship and finalists from New York City’s 2025 FLL Championship. Each delegation typically consists of a student, parent, and coach. There are over 45,000 FLL teams worldwide.
Launched in 2023, R&t continues to foster global STEM engagement through competition, collaboration, and cultural immersion. Its companion initiative, the annual Boston-area College Tour (BCT)—occurring the 2nd weekend of July 2025—offers high school students curated tours of MIT, Harvard, and other selective universities, helping them explore academic and career pathways in STEM.
For more information or to join the R&t mailing list, visit www.roboticsturkey.org.
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