Bot Battles is a LEGO® robotics experience teaching STEAM and life skills. It is the world’s most accessible robotics program.
Bot Battles is a groundbreaking, premium, hands-on robotics experience for students ages 7-14. Participants build, compete, and roleplay with LEGO®. They learn everything from engineering to design, programming, mental health, conflict resolution, and teamwork.
The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation has made this pay-level content available for free for home-based, in-school, and out-of-school learning. COMING 10/23/24..
REVOLUTIONIZING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
Video games are the most popular entertainment medium in America. Bot Battles taps into the very thing that makes them engaging: the science of “gamer motivation.” ³ Gamer motivations are the factors that drive interest in an interactive experience, such as competition, fantasy, or destruction.
Bot Battles uses data from over 1.65 million gamers to create a robotics program that engages students across all genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. The result is a hands on, real world learning experience that feels like playing a video game.
Over 90% of children ages 2+ play video games ¹
Children 8-17 play video games 1.5-2 hours per day ¹
46% of gamers identify as female ²
17% of Gen Z gamers identify as LGBTQ+ ²
Bot Battles empowers parents and educators to discover their students’ own gamer motivations to learn exactly what drives their interest. The program provides training on how to use those motivations to create more personalized, exciting, effective learning environments for Bot Battles and beyond.
STORYTELLING
Bot Battles curriculum is presented as a story-driven experience full of colorful characters. It takes place in the fictional town of Stardust Springs. Here, recycling has been turned into a spectator sport called the Bot Battles. Locals build bots from reclaimed materials, then compete against each other in battle to break the bots down into recyclable scrap.
By wrapping the program in an allegory, students learn how skills acquired in Bot Battles can lead to a stronger community, a healthier planet, and a lasting passion for STEAM.
This immersive lore also helps engage historically marginalized students who might initially be less STEM-inclined.
STEAM CURRICULUM
Bot Battles’ STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, Math) curriculum is developed in collaboration with LEGO® educators, FIRST® mentors, and Tufts University. Lessons are aligned to Next Gen Science Standards.
Students in LEGO® robotics programs have showed significant gains in STEM outcomes: ⁴
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Reported higher confidence in STEM
Reported higher interest in STEM
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Reported higher STEM understanding
Reported improved coding skills
Administrators and practitioners of LEGO® education programs have experienced greater job satisfaction, greater hope about their ability to advance educational equity, and higher confidence in their ability to serve practitioners in their district. ⁶
LIFE SKILLS CURRICULUM
Bot Battles also features Life Skills (Mental Health, Teamwork, Conflict Resolution, Community Building) curriculum developed in collaboration with the International Institute for Restorative Practices. The lessons address common issues that arise in schools, within historically underserved communities, and around youth competitions.
This curriculum is powered by Restorative Practices: an approach to building relationships between individuals, improving social connections within communities, and preventing and responding to conflict and wrongdoing. Use of Restorative Practices in schools has been linked to: ⁵
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Higher math test scores
Higher reading test scores
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Lower absenteeism rates
Lower dropout rates
Improvement in peer relationships
Increase in emotional regulation skills
Decrease in arrests
Reduction in suspensions
MORE BENEFITS
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All program materials are freely available online.
No internet is required. All materials can be downloaded and printed.
No computers or smart devices are required, except for one-time initial setup.
Uses highly available, off-the-shelf LEGO® parts. Other robotics programs require specialty robotics parts that can be difficult to source.
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No cost to register or participate.
Requires as little as with $100-$160 worth of LEGO® parts. Other robotics programs require thousands of dollars worth of parts.
Bots have virtually no competitive advantage above $250 worth of parts . In other robotics programs, over-resourced teams have an overwhelming hardware advantage.
No Bot Battles "kit" to buy. Participants can use any LEGO® parts they already own.
Parts can be reused by future teams year after year.
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Supports home-based, in-school, and out-of-school learning.
Supports self-directed learning for students ages 12+, and student- or teacher-led learning for students ages 7-14.
Each bot can support 1-3 players.
Younger students can build simple bots, while older students can design complex tools and systems of movement.
"Player's Guide" leads participants through all aspects of the program.