Robotics for every kid
Placer Robotics brings free and subsidized robotics experiences to schools, libraries, youth groups, and community events — and helps the students and the schools that want to keep going find a way to do it.
Olive Grove Elementary
One RISE workshop started it. Placer Robotics provided all the equipment for Olive Grove's first year and mentored the program while their teacher ran the team and the students built up their own knowledge. The year ended with three competition teams — and over the summer their teacher secured district funding. This season, Olive Grove runs the program on equipment of its own.
How the school incubator works →“None of this would have been possible without Placer Robotics. I am confident that our kids will never forget this opportunity. We felt so supported.”
SARAH COUNTER · SCIENCE TEACHER AND ROBOTICS COACH, OLIVE GROVE ELEMENTARY
A first experience can lead to much more
RISE began as a series of free robotics workshops for students from Title I schools. Today, it is the umbrella for Placer Robotics' broader community outreach — full-day workshops, the Girl Powered workshop, hands-on stations at community events, and startup help for schools that want a robotics program of their own. Workshops are open to any school, library, or youth group in the region — when we have more requests than dates, priority goes to communities with the least access to hands-on STEM.
The goal is to lower the barriers that usually come first — cost, equipment, and knowing where to start — and then to make sure a student or a school that wants to continue has somewhere to go next.
RISE workshops
Workshops run as a “Robot Olympics”: students in grades 4–6 rotate through builder, coder, driver, and problem-solver roles in game-based challenges, building teamwork, perseverance, and confidence along the way. One day, no cost, all equipment provided.
Workshops have run at Olive Grove Elementary and Creekview Ranch Elementary, and at our own lab in Roseville — an open session that brought students from Heritage Oaks and other schools together for the day.
Girl Powered
A one-day workshop where girls in grades 4–6 design, build, and drive VEX IQ robots, with a student mentor on every team. No experience is needed — just creativity and curiosity. Registration is $20 and includes lunch and a t-shirt, waived for families who need it.
Next workshop: October 4, 2026.
Our most recent workshop served 30 girls, part of 120+ introduced to STEM through Girl Powered since 2022.
Out in the community
Some of the best introductions happen when a family isn't looking for robotics at all. At events hosted by others, our students run hands-on stations for a couple of hours — kids drive a robot, see engineering projects up close, and talk to students not much older than they are. No registration, no cost.
Invited by Project Access to the grand opening of a new affordable housing community in West Roseville, where 30+ kids got their first hands-on look at robotics.
“The opportunity to showcase your robotics program and engage with our community made a lasting impression on our residents, especially the younger attendees who left with a new spark of curiosity and interest in STEM.”
A City of Roseville Parks & Recreation community day at Martha Riley Library, where 100+ children drove a robot for the first time.
Robotics- and engineering-themed Homeschool Days at MOSAC, two years running, with 1,000+ attendees across the two events.
One day is the start, not the point
Outreach is built to lead somewhere. When a student wants to keep going, we help them find the next step. When a school wants to keep going, we help them build a program they own.
For a student
Summer camps, competition teams, and mentors who were sitting in the same seat a few years ago.
In 2026 alone, Placer Robotics awarded more than $5,000 in summer camp scholarships — including more than $3,000 to students we first met through a RISE workshop.
For a school
A workshop can become a program. We help schools, youth groups, and independent teams stand one up:
- Loaner robots, field elements, and starter equipment
- Student and adult mentors to train coaches and teams
- A season of league play for VEX IQ teams, alongside our own
- Help with VEX registration, fundraising, and event logistics
The school program incubator
Placer Robotics has helped launch or support 20+ partner teams and seeded 5 standalone school robotics programs — now funded and run by their own communities. Partner VEX IQ teams play a full season in the Placer Robotics League alongside our own IQ teams; V5 teams typically compete at one-day events around the region.
We helped secure startup equipment and RECF grants for the Oakmont Robotics Club (team 95661), and our students mentor the Cavitt Cyber Cowboys (team 9537). Each program is run by the school or organization itself — that is the goal, not a side effect.
Bring robotics to your community
Schools, libraries, and youth organizations can request a free RISE workshop for a group of 10+ students in grades 4–6.
Request a workshop →Partner with us
Outreach runs on grants and community partners. If you want more students in the region to get a first try at robotics, let's talk.
Partner with Placer Robotics →