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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.
ROBOTICS: MY JOURNEY
SAM QIAN
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PRECISE
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SAN FRANCISCO
FROM CIRCUITS TO COMMUNITIES :
THE PROJECTS THAT SHAPED ME
When I look back on my journey through robotics, each project tells a different story — not of flawless engineering, but of growth born through mistakes, collaboration, and quiet determination. These are not just machines I helped build; they are milestones in how I learned to think, lead, and connect with others.
FRC Robotics: Where It All Began
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My first exposure to large-scale robotics came through the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). I still remember walking into the workshop for the first time — the scent of metal filings, the hum of power tools, the blur of students in safety goggles working together. Everything looked impossibly advanced. I had no idea what “PID control” meant or how to even read an electrical schematic.
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To be honest, I was overwhelmed. My early mistakes were endless — plugging wires into the wrong ports, forgetting to calibrate sensors, even short-circuiting the robot once. There were moments when I thought my teammates were right to question my place on the team.​
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​But failure became my teacher. I began to stay late after school, watching senior members debug code line by line, shadowing mentors to learn mechanical basics, and teaching myself from online resources. Slowly, the fragments began to make sense.
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I’ll never forget the first time our robot successfully completed a full course during testing. I wasn’t the one driving or coding that final run, but I had helped make it happen — tightening bolts, adjusting the wiring harness, running diagnostics. That moment taught me something no textbook could: that teamwork amplifies individual potential. Robotics isn’t just about who builds the fastest robot — it’s about how a team learns to trust one another.
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Over the years, I began to take on leadership roles — organizing build schedules, leading design reviews, and mentoring new recruits. I learned to translate technical ideas into clear guidance, and to listen before leading. The FRC lab, once a place of anxiety, became my second home.
The Lockdown Project — Building Vision, Language, and Action
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When COVID-19 restrictions hit, our physical workspace closed overnight. For a team used to huddling around robots and whiteboards, this was devastating. But I wasn’t ready to stop building.
We started brainstorming remotely over video calls. What could we create that combined robotics with computer vision and AI — something that could be done even when apart? After weeks of discussion, we decided to build a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model, a system capable of interpreting visual input, analyzing it through natural language processing, and making responsive actions.​
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​It sounded ambitious, almost impossible for a small group of high school students. We had limited equipment, unstable internet, and entirely different time zones. But what we lacked in resources, we made up for in determination.
I took on the role of coordinating team progress — designing data flow architecture, troubleshooting code integration issues, and ensuring everyone had access to shared cloud environments. We learned to adapt — to run test simulations virtually, to debug through screen-sharing, and to motivate one another through fatigue and frustration.
And then, something incredible happened. Our little project — born from the emptiness of lockdown — caught the attention of SenseTime, one of Asia’s largest AI companies. They reached out, curious about our model’s potential applications for education. It felt surreal. We were just a group of high schoolers trying to make sense of a world that had paused.
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That single message from SenseTime changed everything. They helped us refine our algorithm and guided us through optimizing data training. Within months, our model became a platform used by over 130 students to build their own apps. What began as isolation turned into empowerment — a digital bridge connecting students through creation.
Later, our work drew the attention of Boeing China, who became our first corporate sponsor — and the only high school team in Greater China they chose to support. That moment didn’t just validate our effort; it reminded me that youth and inexperience are not limitations — they are catalysts for innovation.
From Innovation to Inclusion: Extending Robotics to the Community
After the competition season and project development cycles, I began to see robotics differently. It wasn’t just about competing — it was about connection.
When I started teaching robotics at a local kindergarten, I realized how powerful curiosity can be at any age. I designed simple activities that let children “engineer wonder” with everyday materials — connecting circuits using lemons and pennies, or building balloon-powered cars to understand propulsion. Watching their eyes light up as simple science came to life reminded me why I fell in love with building in the first place.
It wasn’t long before I began expanding this outreach to underprivileged schools and communities. I worked with small volunteer groups to bring recycled robotics kits to schools that couldn’t afford new materials. I also reached out to ShanghaiTech University’s engineering department, hoping to create a bridge for students like me — those who might not have access to advanced STEM resources but who carried the same spark of curiosity.
To my surprise, they agreed. Our collaboration turned into a mentorship program that introduced robotics fundamentals and AI concepts to middle school students across rural regions. Seeing young learners in remote areas write their first lines of code or control their first motors filled me with profound gratitude. I had once been that struggling student — uncertain, overlooked, but determined to try again.
