On April 2, a group of Portsmouth Abbey students and faculty, including members of the Robotics Club, visited the Toyota Research Institute for a private, behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge robotics research. The group was hosted by Abbey alumnus Andres Valenzuela ’04, who began work as a researcher at the Toyota Research Institute after receiving an undergraduate degree from University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Activities included conversations with several engineers about the ethics of robotics and artificial intelligence, offering a real-life application of the intersection of science and the liberal arts.

Following the day’s interaction, Sixth-Form student David Sozanski said, “It was remarkable to tour the institute because we got to see the development process of something new and truly cutting edge, something rare in the applied sciences. In practically the same room, robotics technologies were being imagined, prototyped, and applied. The research was so forward looking that in several cases, the software engineers had begun the development of programs for hardware that hadn't been invented yet.”
 
The field trip was a collaboration between the Portsmouth Institute and the Department of Science at Portsmouth Abbey and was hosted by the Portsmouth Institute's Center for Science and the Liberal Arts, whose mission is to inspire knowledge of and wonder towards God and the created order.
 
Faculty attending included Mr. Christopher Fisher (Department of Humanities; Portsmouth Institute); Dr. Stephen Zins (Department of Science); Mr. Cliff Hobbins (Department of History); and Mr. David Wilson (Department of Science).