EngineerTeen Writing Contest 2027 — How to Train Your Robot

Overview

The National Academy of Engineering asks students to imagine training an AI robot in a real learning place such as a classroom, lab or library. Submit an original narrative and a four-to-ten-panel storyboard; visual clarity matters, not professional drawing skill. For high-school entrants, grade 9 follows the grades 7–9 prompt on what robots might notice differently from humans; grades 10–12 address tricky or unfair situations a robot could misunderstand. Both allow at most 1,200 narrative words and at most eight APA references, excluded from word count. Explain learning from feedback, mistakes, safety, privacy and fairness; the older band also considers work implications. AI may assist research/brainstorming/organization/grammar, but the final narrative and storyboard must be the student’s own work, not substantially AI-generated. Entries grant broad nonexclusive use rights; winners irrevocably transfer exclusive worldwide copyright to NAE and need written permission to republish.

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