Robotics mentoring at STEAM Academy
- Role
- Robotics Mentor, STEAM Academy
- When
- Sep 2024 to May 2025
- Where
- Dublin
- Python
- Education
- Lego Robotics
Context
STEAM Academy runs after-school programmes that get kids building with technology, not just watching it. I joined as a robotics mentor for a year, working with groups of primary-school students who were seeing code and hardware together for the first time.
What I did
- Taught 30+ children to design, build, and program Lego robots, moving from block-based logic into Python as they were ready.
- Ran structured sessions where teams had to debug their own builds: sensors misaligned, motors wired wrong, code that almost worked. That frustration-then-breakthrough loop is the same one I still use in engineering.
- Kept the room collaborative so quieter students still had a role on the team, and the competitive edge stayed friendly.
Why it matters here
Explaining a state machine to a ten-year-old who just wants their robot to turn left is excellent practice for explaining distributed systems to stakeholders. Patience, clarity, and meeting people where they are carry straight into internships and client work.