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Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
ROBOTICS: MY JOURNEY
SAM QIAN
My journey in robotics opened my eyes to the power of access — and the responsibility that comes with it. I had mentors who guided me patiently when I didn’t understand the basics. That’s why I’ve made mentorship my mission.
I started with local outreach — bringing robotics to schools that lacked STEM funding. We created weekend sessions using recycled parts to build mini-robots. Watching students from different economic backgrounds light up when they saw their first motor spin was unforgettable.
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Then came kindergarten STEM programs, where I designed age-appropriate “play circuits” with lemons, batteries, and copper wire. The laughter in those classrooms reminded me that curiosity begins not with complexity, but with joy.
One of the projects closest to my heart is our partnership with ShanghaiTech University, where I helped design a mentorship program pairing university engineers with rural students. Together, they learned coding, design thinking, and teamwork. That program has since expanded to over 100 students.
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Through these experiences, I’ve come to believe that the true measure of innovation isn’t how advanced your robot is — it’s how many people you bring along in the journey.
When I think back to my early days in robotics, I remember being completely lost. I didn’t know what a servo motor did, or how to connect circuits without frying something (which, honestly, I did a few times). What made the difference wasn’t just access to tools — it was access to people who cared. Mentors who didn’t laugh when I failed, but instead said, “Try again, you’re close.” That kind of encouragement changed everything.
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So when I finally had the chance to mentor others, I knew exactly what kind of mentor I wanted to be — patient, encouraging, and focused on sparking curiosity rather than perfection. My first outreach project was small: just five students in a classroom with a few donated kits. But it felt huge. I saw myself in them — the same mixture of confusion and excitement. They’d cheer when a robot moved two inches forward, even if it turned the wrong way. That’s when I realized that joy and learning go hand in hand.
Building Access, Not Just Robots
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In many schools, robotics still feels like something “out of reach.” It’s seen as expensive, complicated, and only for top students. I wanted to change that. With a small team of friends, we collected leftover materials from past competitions — old motors, scrap metal frames, half-working sensors — and built new kits from them. We called it our “Rebuild and Reuse” project.
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We went to schools that didn’t have STEM clubs and ran weekend sessions. The first school we visited had students who had never seen a robot up close. Some didn’t even know what coding was. But by the end of the day, they were connecting wires, adjusting circuits, and shouting instructions at their mini-bots as if they were alive.
Learning Through Laughter
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The kindergarten STEM sessions were something completely different — and completely chaotic in the best way possible. Instead of robots, we worked with play circuits, magnets, and fruit batteries. We used lemons, potatoes, and even apples to power tiny lights.
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Kids would squeeze the lemons and ask, “Is this magic?” I’d say, “It’s science pretending to be magic.” They’d laugh every time. The idea wasn’t to teach engineering concepts but to plant the seed of curiosity. We made it playful and hands-on because, at that age, learning isn’t about understanding — it’s about discovering.
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One day, a five-year-old asked, “Can I make a robot that hugs people when they’re sad?” That question made me smile because it showed me that empathy and innovation can start at any age. Maybe that’s what education should be — showing young minds that technology isn’t just about machines, but about care.
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Mentorship at Scale
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As my projects grew, so did my sense of what mentorship could become. I wanted to connect people who had skills with those who had dreams but no access. That’s how the ShanghaiTech University partnership started.
We built a mentorship program that connected university students studying engineering with rural students who had never touched a robot before. The first batch had just ten pairs — one mentor and one student per team. The mentors taught basic coding and problem-solving, while the students brought creativity and fresh ideas.
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It was amazing to see what happened next. The rural students didn’t just learn — they innovated. They came up with ideas that surprised even the university mentors. One team built a simple automatic irrigation system for small farms using water sensors and recycled bottles. Another designed a mini cleaner robot for classroom floors using old fans.
When I visited one of the villages, a boy ran up to me and said, “I want to be an engineer too.” He had never said that before the program started. That’s when I knew we were doing something that mattered.
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Over time, the program expanded — more mentors joined, and more schools signed up. Today, over 100 students have gone through it. Some have even started teaching others, continuing the cycle. That’s what I love most — seeing mentorship multiply.