RobotGrrl, also known as high school junior Erin, received some great news. She's been accepted to go to Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence course, part of the school's Education Program for Gifted Youth. Sure, it sounds awesome, but her quest for knowledge isn't cheap: the course costs $3,700.

Erin isn't deterred. The smarts that got her into the program are now being used to enable her to attend it. She's combining simple bristlebots, Styrofoam cups, and some hand-painted charm to bring the Styrobots to life — adorable little guys that buzz around in circles at the press of an antenna. Every Styrobot is unique, with its own wild name (such as Beegigoo and Flowerpowergoo) and cutesy paint job.

It's the kind of effort that really impresses us here at DVICE. If we were in charge of the program, Erin would get a free ride. Failing that, we can keep up with Erin's Etsy store to find out when new Styrobots are available for purchase, or, if you want to do more, donate to her directly via Paypal. Erin's already managed to raise $700 of the $3,700 she needs.

Tomorrow's headline: "Young robotic engineers foot the bill for cute girl to attend their class." We kid, we kid: women of robotics, DVICE salutes you.

Click Continue to check out a video of the Styrobots in action.

One of RobotGrrl's adorable 'bots:

RobotGrrl painstakingly package up two Styrobots for shipping:

Styrobots, via RobotGrrl, via Robots.net