About

About Placer Robotics

Placer Robotics began in 2018 after a school robotics program ended. A high-school student recruited four others that summer and started building in a garage. By fall there were ten of them, and what they started became an independent nonprofit that could serve students across schools and districts.

Today, Placer Robotics operates competition teams, camps, outreach programs, regional events, and the Placer Robotics Center in downtown Roseville. Officially, we are Placer Advanced Robotics and Technology (PART).

The students had just seen what it meant to lose a robotics community, the friendships, the shared interest, the work that mattered because they did it together. PART came from the idea of being part of a community. Placer Advanced Robotics and Technology came afterward, to make the name official.
THE FOUNDING STORY · 2018

How Placer Robotics started

Placer Robotics started in a garage, literally. The founder's family garage, with students, tools, and late nights. Their first robot, Washing Machine, was a 15-pound combat robot built in six weeks for a Southern California event in the fall of 2018, where it won the tournament outright. That win pulled in more students, more combat robots, and the firstVEX teams. What changed is the scale: 51 teams, a dedicated robotics center in downtown Roseville, and some of the region's largest hosted championships. What stayed is the culture: students building, failing, fixing, competing, and leading together.

SEPTEMBER 2018 · THE GARAGE · WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
JAN 2024 · GRAND OPENING · PLACER ROBOTICS CENTER
2018
Founded
Student-founded, community-grown.
2,900
SQ FT facility
The Placer Robotics Center in downtown Roseville: fields, arena, machine shop.
4
Programs
Run day-to-day by student directors, mentored by volunteers.
After graduation. Recent Placer Robotics graduates have entered engineering, computer science, advanced manufacturing, robotics internships, and technical industry roles. Many after years as team leads and student directors here. Two Placer Robotics alumni went on to found Combat Robotics @ Berkeley: the team behind Glitch, BattleBots Season 6 Co-Rookie of the Year.

I fell in love with robotics here, and so did a lot of these students. Watching a team come in, work all day, share the tools, and learn from each other is what this is about. A team sets you up for engineering better than almost anything: the internships, the college clubs, and the skills you carry forward. And it is incredible that a nonprofit opens this to the whole community.

Kyle MillerPlacer Robotics Founder · Glitch / BattleBots Captain · Mechanical Engineer, Sunday Robotics

Press and media

Press & media →
Roseville's New Youth Robotics Center Set for Grand OpeningPLACER ROBOTICS PRESS RELEASE · JAN 2024