Welcoming local school children to the Amazon development center in Cambridge to learn about Prime Air

Part of our commitment to the local community is supporting students in studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). With that goal in mind, we recently opened the doors to our Prime Air lab and began hosting tours for school groups and interested community organizations in our Cambridge, UK Development Center. The tours aim to inspire kids to consider careers that require STEM skills by showing various stages of drone development and robotics innovation.

The first Amazon Prime Air tour took place on Friday, October 18, and hosted a group of Year 5 primary school children. Eight students from Steeple Morden Primary School, a village school in the southwest of Cambridgeshire, and their teacher enjoyed presentations from Prime Air team members.

Students learned about how 3D printing has helped the team iterate quickly on designs, experienced our vehicles’ sense-and-avoid technology through a unique flight simulator, and got the opportunity to fly mini drones in our flight cage. Upon leaving, one of the boys said, “I’ll miss this place!”

Lab tours will continue through January 2017 for schools and other groups in the local community.