Windham Resident Works to Fire Up Passion in STEM Subjects

Windham resident and technology guru Rami Morris wants to change the way students in the United States look at the science and engineering fields.

Morris is convinced that he has the product to spark imagination and passion in the youth of America.

According to Morris, the Hummingbird robotics kit will bridge the gap between primary school children who develop an interest in LEGO robotics and the FIRST robotics competition at the high school level.

“The potential for this (kit), the impact on kids is unlimited,” Morris said, “because every kid who has a wide imagination can utilize this to do whatever they want.”

Two years ago, Morris started his company, the Nashua-based Qupiron Technologies, to change the landscape of education in America.

Qupiron in ancient Greek means “unlimited and bountiful resources,” which Morris believes his company can provide to the students of America.

The Hummingbird kit came about as the result of five years of research into creating arts-based robotics programs and tools for middle school students at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Kids create projects from dogs to dragons, with wiring in the back that is programmed through the computer. The programming gets more sophisticated depending on the age of the student, with a drag-and-drop environment providing for even the least experienced of users.

Through his company, which has a license to sell the kit, Morris wants to get kids using Hummingbird across the country, at home and in the classroom.

He believes that between elementary school and high school, the interest in science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M) subjects decreases mightily.

Morris, who began his education overseas along with his business partner, knew the U.S. trailed the rest of the world in education, but said that it didn’t really hit home until he saw what his kids were learning in school compared to what he learned at the same age.

Since the Hummingbird kit incorporates so much art, Morris thinks that implementing the kit in households and curriculums could empower those students who see the S.T.E.M. subjects as dry or boring.

“It shouldn’t surprise you that 60 percent of science and engineering student enrollment in the United States is from overseas,” he said. “We’re trying to change that. We’re trying to reduce that gap.”

Morris called Pittsburgh the “mother ship” for robotics. He thinks that the city can serve as a barometer for spreading S.T.E.M. education.

“We want the whole country to follow Pittsburgh’s lead and Carnegie Mellon’s lead,” Morris said.

He sees the Hummingbird product as a way for parents and grandparents to spend time tinkering with their kids, making a commitment to the future generation.

“I view the Hummingbird robotics kit as a commitment to empowering our kids intellectual curiosity as much as we do with sports.”

The goal is to get boys, and girls, interested in engineering.

Common Core State Standards will also play a role in how the Hummingbird kit functions in the classroom.

Standards do not tell teachers how to teach, and in one English classroom in Pittsburgh, Morris said that the teacher had the students creating and recording poems into the robots.

In the future, Morris hopes the next standard will specifically include robotics.

Morris mirrors the potential magnitude of getting kids involved with the Hummingbird kit to that of the Wright Brothers, whose contributions to early flight brought about fighter jets, the 747 Dreamliner and the space shuttle.

“What’s also unique about the Wright Brothers is that they started with a bicycle company first. They used to tinker around with a lot of things including mechanism, tools, machines, etc. The Hummingbird robotics kit is not just a robotics kit, it is a commitment to our future generation.”