Bringing Human-Robot Teaming to the Sea, Air, and Space STEM Expo
By Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy
April 6, 2025 - OXON HILL, MD - On Sunday, April 6th, we had the opportunity to join the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps at the Sea, Air, and Space STEM Expo at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Thousands of students, parents, educators, and defense industry professionals were in attendance, and the energy throughout the event was incredible.
We were invited by the Sea Cadets to highlight our partnership on the Digital Games for Human-Robot Teaming project. At the booth, we showcased Ghosts of the USS Salazar, a game co-designed last year with cadets from the Top Hatters Squadron in Norfolk, VA. The game follows a young sailor and their Cobot dog, Spark, as they explore a futuristic naval vessel filled with puzzles, smoke, fire, and decisions that rely on teamwork with a robot partner.
Even with only two gaming stations at the booth, we had steady engagement all afternoon. Kids and teens (and more than a few adults) lined up to play, while others gathered behind them to watch and offer advice. Some players made it all the way through the game, while others tried it out for a few quick minutes. It was really fun to watch how quickly a small crowd would form, and how players naturally started working together—even if they’d just met—to figure things out.
We heard a lot of great questions during the event: “Who made this?”, “How did you make it?”, and “How can I make a game like this?” A few kids even walked by and shouted things like, “Oh, I’ve seen that programming before! It’s Scratch!” or “It’s Tynker!” which was a great reminder of how familiar block-based programming is becoming for younger learners.
The booth also gave us a chance to talk with attendees about the project itself—how it was created with the Sea Cadets over six months, how we used design-based research methods, and how we incorporated real-world insights from Navy stakeholders like NAWCTSD and NBHC Point Loma to explore concepts in human-robot teaming.
We’re grateful to JoAnn Taft and Karen Montagne at Sea Cadet HQ for inviting us and helping make everything run so smoothly. It was a fantastic experience to connect with so many people excited about STEM and share the work we’ve done together.
If you didn’t get a chance to see it in person, you can still play Ghosts of the USS Salazar—and explore our other Player-Programmed Partner Games—at games.cs2n.org. You can also learn more about the research behind the project on our Human-Robot Teaming page.
This project is sponsored by the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research under ONR award number N00014-23-1-2455. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Naval Research.