Remote³: Public Engagement over 1 km underground – and beyond

The Remote 3 (“Remote Cubed”) project is a Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Public Engagement Leadership Fellowship funded activity, organised in collaboration between the University of Edinburgh (UoE), and STFC’s Public Engagement Team, Scientific Computing, and the Boulby Underground Laboratory – part of STFC Particle Physics. Remote 3 works with school audiences to challenge teams of young people to design, build, and program their own LEGO Mindstorms [1] “Mars Rover”, which is then tested at the Boulby Underground Laboratory’s Mars Yard, 1.1 km underground. Teams, with the assistance of mentors from UoE and STFC, design their rover to complete various space-exploration themed challenges – ranging from taking a panoramic environment scan to navigating the Mars Yard landscape looking for LEGO brick samples. The project aims to engage with audiences that are underserved by public engagement opportunities, especially those that provide experience with cutting edge science, for example those from remote highland locations and those from areas of higher social depravation. We give them the opportunity to work hands on with engineering and computing, whilst learning from and interacting with real scientists and engineers. Since its inception in 2019, Remote 3 has flourished in a wide variety of different environments and through multiple media, from entirely virtual during the lockdowns of 2020-21, to working closely with active scientists deep underground, to visits to schools by Remote 3 members, communal group storytelling at libraries, and extensive displays and hands on activities in tents in fields at festivals. This year, Remote 3 is building on the lessons learnt through this varied programme to deliver a series of engagement activities in conjunction with STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Public Open Week, which had an audience of 15,000 people.