Youth Robotics

Registration for the 2025-2026 season is now open!

Piedmont Makers organizes FIRST Robotics teams and hosts local robotics tournaments for Piedmont and the broader East Bay community. This includes:

FIRST LEGO League Explore (Kindergarten through 3rd grade)
FIRST Lego League Challenge (4th through 8th grade)
FIRST Tech Challenge (7th through 12th grade)
FIRST Robotics Competition (9th through 12th grade).

With 750+ students across 100+ robotics teams, we run the largest community robotics league in the United States!

Our Robotics programs are open to all communities in the East Bay, including Oakland, Berkeley, "Lamorinda", and beyond; our programs are not just for Piedmont residents or PUSD students! Financial aid is available upon request.

Note that we are a volunteer-driven organization and parents serve as team coaches, so please consider volunteering.

More questions? See the details for each league, and FAQ below.

Still haven’t answered your question? Please email robotics@piedmontmakers.org

FIRST LEGO League Explore

FIRST LEGO League Explore (K-3rd grade) is designed to introduce STEM concepts to kids ages 5 to 10 while exciting them through a brand they know and love − LEGO®. Registration Window: March–May Season Schedule: Fall season (August–December) Season goals: non-competitive, team building, drag n’ drop programming, introductory robotics concepts, presentation skills Frequency: Teams practice 1x per week, 1 h per practice Dates/times: Practice times are set by coaches working with team members, and are not available prior to team formation. Please share your schedule restrictions during registration. Team Size: Typically 4-6 participants. Teams larger than 6 are not recommended at this age and require an exception. Contact robotics@piedmontmakers.org to discuss. Coaches: 2 team parents serve as coaches Location: Practices are hosted by coach or other team parents League Events: FLL Explore Expo, first weekend in December

FIRST LEGO League Challenge

FIRST LEGO League Challenge (4th-8th grade) is a LEGO Spike Prime-based robotics competition with Scratch/Python coding and includes a team project based on the season’s theme. The regular season runs from August through December. If you are new to robotics or coding, we recommend this level. Registration Window: March–May Season Schedule: Fall season (August–December) Season goals: Recreational or Competitive, learn Scratch or Python programming, intermediate robotics concepts (modularity, driving, autonomous tasks, feedback mechanisms), team-based research project, intermediate presentation skills on robot design and the research project Frequency: Typically teams practice 1-2 times per week; time commitment depends on each team’s individual goals. Beginner/recreational teams estimated 1-2 h per week; advanced/competitive teams 2–3 h per week. Dates/times: Practice times are set by coaches working with team members, and are not available prior to team formation Team Size: Typically 5-8 participants but can be larger with sufficient coach/parent support Coaches: Team parents serve as coaches. STEM experience is not required to coach at this level. Coach training sessions and curriculum are provided by Piedmont Makers Location: Teams are hosted by coach or other team parents League Events: 2x “practice” tournaments (1x project, 1x robot scrimmage), FLL Challenge Community Tournament hosted by Piedmont Makers

FIRST Tech Challenge

FIRST Tech Challenge (7th-12th grade) is a more advanced robotics competition which features Android/Java programming and Rev/TETRIX/GoBilda robotics. If you have some robotics or coding experience and are at least in 7th grade, we recommend this level. Registration Window: March–May Schedule: September - February Season goals: Competitive, java programming, advanced robotics concepts Frequency: Typically teams practice 1-2 times/week Dates/times: Practice times are set by the individual teams. Team Size: Typically 7-12 participants Coaches: Team parents serve as coaches. Parents with STEM experience can coach independently. Parents without STEM experience often hire technical high school student mentors to instruct the team. Location: Teams are hosted by coach or other team parents or at Piedmont High School Engineering Lab. Season Structure: Piedmont Makers coordinate the “East Bay Hills” FTC League. Competition is held with 16+ teams in the greater East Bay with monthly league meets and end-of-season tournament. The top 2 teams advance to the NorCal Regional Championship.

FIRST Robotics Competition

FIRST Robotics Competition (9th-12th grade) is the highest level of FIRST robotics. Highlander Robotics (Team #8033) represents Piedmont in regional and national competitions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does coaching work?

A: We are a volunteer run organization, and coaches are parents. Each team needs a primary and assistant coach, and practices are held in one of the coaches' homes (garage, basement, etc). Coaches will coordinate the practice schedule with their team.

Q: What resources are available for coaches? Is engineering experience necessary to coach?

A: No experience necessary! We provide everything you need. FIRST provides guided lesson plans and digital tutorials for the kids. Additionally, Piedmont Makers provides an annual Coaches Training, a coaches Slack channel, TeamSnap for team management, practice table drop off & pickup, and team “uniforms” (the famous Piedmont Makers shirt) for participants and coaches.

Q: What's the best way to form a team? How can I ensure friends are together? What if we don't know anyone?

A: The best way to register is with a friend group AND a volunteer coach already preselected. That will guarantee you a spot along with your friends. Otherwise, we'll do our best to honor preferences and match kids with coaches. We always need more coaches, so if you are able, please indicate your desire to coach during registration. Any other participants will be placed on a waitlist and be placed on a team as space and confirmed coaches allow. If you're new to robotics and need a team, be sure to join us at our Open House to meet other new robotics families.

Q: My child is in 7th or 8th grade. Should they do FLL or FTC?

A: We are hosting virtual FLL vs FTC Q&A on Wed April 2 at 8:30pm. Join us! (Meet link)

Q: What is included in the registration fee?

A: For FLL Challenge, the registration fee covers:

FIRST registration
FIRST LEGO League Challenge Set
Two sets of LEGO SPIKE Prime per team
Team uniform (the famous Piedmont Makers t-shirt!)
FIRST LEGO League competition table (4’ x 8’ framed plywood meeting FIRST specs)
Scrimmage and tournament fees
Other league fees (facilities, coach training, background checks, tournament hosting, etc).

For FLL Explore, registration covers:

FIRST registration
FLL Explore Challenge Set
LEGO SPIKE Prime Essentials kit
Team uniform (the famous Piedmont Makers t-shirt!)
End-of-season Expo fees
Other league fees

Previous Open House Presentations

2024-2025

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PARENTS

There are two ways to register for FLL/FTC robotics:

1. Register a pre-formed team with a named Coach [Preferred!]

When possible, we strongly encourage parents to work with your friend groups to assemble your team members before you register. This gives you more control over your team composition and support network and usually leads to better team outcomes for the kids. One parent should volunteer as head coach, one as assistant coach, and 1-2 as team support. Two coaches are required per team per FIRST regulations.

2. Register as an individual to be placed on a team

For participants registering without a pre-formed team, you can indicate your child’s preferences (age, school, gender preferences, level of competition). We will help place kids accordingly into matching teams over the summer. Keep in mind we do not cap the number of registrants, and there is a long registration window, so we do recommend reaching out to friends and neighbors to try and form a team (see #1 above).

When registering as an individual, you must indicate if you are able to serve as a parent coach for the team. Motivated and enthusiastic parent coaches are key to the success of building teams. See FAQ for details.