Breaking the typically silent haven of the space, the library’s Great Room reverberated with cheers, squeals, and peals of laughter as Westwood Robotics hosted their annual Minibots Workshop for elementary schoolers on Saturday, Nov. 22, Saturday, Dec. 13, Saturday, Jan. 10, and Saturday, Feb. 14. The event served as an entertaining introduction for younger students into the world of robotics, where elementary schoolers participated in a variety of interactive STEM activities.

Thanks to the popularity of the club’s Robocamp event hosted over the summer, many children were familiar faces, returning from Robocamp, to the volunteers running the workshop. The students were guided through building their own miniature robots with mass-ordered custom robot and First Lego League (FLL) kits. They put their inventions to the test in entertaining face-offs.

“I answered questions for both kids and parents interested in robotics and encouraged them to think through challenges on their own,” Outreach Director Rayan Dange ‘26 said. “Beyond just teaching technical skills, we worked to make sure the kids felt supported and had a fun, positive experience with robotics.”

The volunteers wanted to make sure the event was not only immersive, but memorable. Each assembled kit was made into personalized robots that the kids could take home.

“These kits included the parts needed to assemble a simple robot so the students could continue learning even after the event ended,” Dange said.

Building and assembling the small robots seemed easy, but customizing the experience for curious children wasn’t as straightforward. Many volunteers persevered through complications due to requests from the young mentees.

“The hardest part was definitely troubleshooting some of the problems,” Reesha Malpani ‘28 said. “Even though the [project] was simple, we may have made some mistakes along the way or attendees might have a certain way they wanted to make something. We did have a few arguments amongst the kids, and keeping up with them was a little bit difficult, but really fulfilling overall.”

Later in the workshop, volunteers led the attendees through building FLL robots in groups. These robots competed against each other for the last one standing, mimicking the popular game show BattleBots.

“[Setting up] larger FLL kits that students worked on in teams really helped encourage collaboration,” Dange said. “I think it made the whole workshop more interactive and exciting for them.”

The Minibots workshops had over 100 attendees across five grades. This experience further enforced Westwood Robotics’s passion for outreach, inspiring many officers and volunteers to continue similar events in future years.

“My favorite part of Minibots was seeing how much the kids grew in both creativity and confidence over the course of the workshop,” Dange said. “At the beginning, many of them needed a lot of guidance, but by the end they were able to build and complete tasks much more independently. It was amazing to watch them grow in such a short time and become excited about what they were creating.”