PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Danielle Boyer

Danielle Boyer is an Indigenous robotics inventor whose work brings ethical AI into youth education and supports Anishinaabemowin language learning. She began teaching children at age ten and joined a FIRST robotics team in high school. With teammates, she developed EKGAR and started The STEAM Connection to widen access to technical education. Her organization has distributed more than 11,000 free kits, and its wearable SkoBot uses community-recorded speech and offline technology. Monument Lab named her a fellow in 2025, and TIME included her among its 100 most influential people in AI in 2026.

Now at
The STEAM Connection
Photo of Danielle Boyer

Timeline

  1. Before 2019

    Science from the start

    She began teaching children at age ten, spent years homeschooling, then joined a FIRST robotics team in high school.

  2. 2018

    Opening a door to STEAM

    She started The STEAM Connection to make accessible STEAM education and robotics resources for children.

  3. 2018–2019

    Making robotics cost less

    With her FIRST teammates, she developed Every Kid Gets A Robot (EKGAR), a 3D-printed educational kit whose build cost fell from $50 in summer 2018 to $18.95 in version 3.0.

  4. 2021

    Free kits reach more students

    By 2021, she had distributed more than 4,500 educational robotics kits for free, mainly to girls and BIPOC students.

  5. 2025

    A fellowship for Indigenous futures

    Monument Lab named her a 2025 fellow for work on emerging technologies and Indigenous-led cultural preservation. The STEAM Connection had reached more than one million young people with free, accessible technical education.

  6. 2026

    A place on the AI list

    TIME included her among its 100 most influential people in AI in 2026.

  7. As of October 2026

    Keeping language in community hands

    She is the founder and CEO of The STEAM Connection, which develops personal and wearable robots, AI systems, and augmented reality tools for youth. At Dartmouth's 2026 AI and Indigenous Innovations symposium, she discussed ethical AI and presented SkoBot, which matches preset English phrases to community-recorded Anishinaabemowin audio. The robots can run offline with recordings stored on internal servers, and the organization had distributed more than 11,000 free kits; its Make-A-Robot platform had more than 34,000 educators.

Sources and credits

Photo: danielleboyer.org; Danielle Boyer | Youth Advocacy; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: danielleboyer.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Danielle Boyer | Ojibwe | The STEAM Connection | Winds of Change woc.aises.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Team | The STEAM Connection steamconnection.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Full STEAM Ahead with Danielle Boyer: STEAM Connections - Blog Solidworks blogs.solidworks.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Danielle Boyer's Robots | Youth Advocacy danielleboyer.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. 2025 Fellow Danielle Boyer - Monument Lab monumentlab.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Danielle Boyer Champions Ethical and Inclusive Innovation | AI at Dartmouth ai.dartmouth.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.