Einstein is an obvious one. Same goes for Marie Curie and William Shakespeare. But what makes a genius? And how can we continue to honor and learn from geniuses, both those from the past and present?

That is the gist of the 92nd Street Y’s worldwide festival “7 Days of Genius.”

 “The “7 Days of Genius” festival is a festival of ideas; it's a festival of inquiry. The events cover topics such as the genius of religion, the genius of economics, the genius of learning and education," says Larisa Gelman of 92nd Street Y.

The event isn’t just about honoring the one in a million or one in a billion genius. It’s about taking what they’ve taught us and expanding upon it, in a sense, recognizing the genius in all of us.

Festival programs which highlight that include one where high school students get a quick intro to robots class. They get to hear from a robot engineer flown in from Israel’s Madatech National Museum of Science and Technology.

“We try to have them deal with robotics as early as possible so that they can see that it’s not something to be afraid of or something that only specific people can do, everybody can do it,” says Amit Cuperman of Madatech National Museum of Science and Technology.

For the kids, seeing the genius behind robots includes seeing the genius they themselves might someday contribute to what these mechanical creatures can do.

We asked some children what excited them about potentially making a robot one day.

“It would help people, and yeah, it would help people in different ways,"  says one 10th grader.

 “I would want it to help people who aren’t able to help themselves, like disabled people, so they can walk around, they can  go places they can’t go," said another.

To check out some of the talks, issues, and even participate in some ongoing contests that are all part of the “7 Days of Genius” festival, check out 92Y.org/Genius.