About
Piedmont Makers Robotics Programs include hands-on robotics with serious tools such as building LEGO robots, building with LEGO Technic, and using LEGO Spike Essentials and LEGO Spike Prime kits. Participants work on simple programming, coding with drag-and-drop blocks, coding in block programming, and coding in Python and Java. Older students build autonomous LEGO robots, 18-inch-cube robots from REV, TETRIX, and goBILDA components, and 120-pound competition robots, and some develop the Lovat scouting app, teach middle schoolers Onshape CAD, and mentor local LEGO League teams.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: LEGO League Explore and LEGO League Challenge run August–December; FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) runs September–February; FRC (Highlander Robotics Team 8033) runs August–June with a January–March build season, with meetings ranging from about 1 hour weekly to multiple weekly meetings depending on program
• Price: LEGO League Explore $200 per participant; LEGO League Challenge $400 per participant; FTC $500 per participant; FRC Team 8033 $800 per participant; cost covers FIRST registration, kits/parts, uniform, competition fees, and coach training, and financial aid is available
Piedmont Makers Robotics Programs are part of Piedmont Makers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting STEAM education and maker culture for kids and adults across the East Bay. Programs are run by parents and volunteers and span from LEGO bricks in 1st grade to 120-pound competition robots in high school, with approximately 1,000 kids on 125+ teams and FIRST Robotics teams in 25+ cities across the East Bay. Piedmont Makers runs the largest community-based youth robotics league in the United States, with about 40% girls in LEGO League, 10% of participants from Title 1 schools, 46% from outside Piedmont, and a Build Like a Girl program where older girls from FRC and FTC teams teach younger girls hands-on robotics.
Piedmont Makers has been operating since 2014 and started over a decade ago, and the Piedmont School Maker Faire is in its 12th year as of 2026. The organization’s mission is to offer engaging and inclusive S.T.E.A.M. experiences for young people in Piedmont, CA and beyond through partnerships that develop and support educational programs. In a referenced year, they logged 1,900+ volunteer hours and awarded $25,694 in STEAM grants to Piedmont Unified School District teachers, and they give $25,000+ in STEAM grants annually. Piedmont Makers built the Mary G. Ross Engineering Lab at Piedmont High School through a capital campaign and secured a multi-year lease on a permanent 10th Street robotics field in Oakland.
The leadership team includes Kevin Clark and Ben Stein as Co-Presidents; Dave Ragones as Co-Founder & Treasurer (Interim); Paul Morrison as Secretary and VP, FIRST Tech Challenge; Lara Oliver as VP, FIRST Tech Challenge; Pat Holder and Shelley Rea as VPs, FIRST LEGO League Challenge; Marta Lusky and David Koslow as VPs, FIRST LEGO League Explore; Natalia Feretti as VP, FIRST Robotics Competition; Ella Grossberg and Brian Van Osdol as VPs, School Maker Faire; Rebecca Heywood and Margaret Bridges as VPs, Grants; Julie Veit as VP, Operations; Mallory Casperson as VP, Fundraising; Keren Khouri for 10th St Coordination; Ken Khouri as 10th St Tech Lead; Greg Wolff as Master Maker; Alex Seiden, Larraine Seiden, Joel Tornatore, and Dave McMurtry as At-large members; and Alya Hameed as FLL/FTC Program Manager.
Piedmont Makers runs robotics teams across the East Bay, a community engineering lab, a yearly School Maker Faire, and popup maker spaces across the East Bay, and programs are open to East Bay students including Oakland, Berkeley, and Lamorinda. The School Maker Faire is free and open to the public and features K–12 students showing projects such as Rube Goldberg machines, robots, embroidered patches, soldered circuits, and 3D-printed items. Popup Maker Spaces are stocked with tools like soldering irons, sewing machines, 3D printers, cardboard, and hot glue, and activities include embroidering patches, soldering circuits, 3D printing, and building Rube Goldberg machines. The organization states that STEAM shouldn’t depend on zip code or family income.
For LEGO League Explore, teams of 5–6 kids meet for 12 weekly hour-long sessions from August through December, and the season culminates in a festival at Piedmont Middle School the weekend after Thanksgiving. Piedmont Makers supplies LEGO kits, week-by-week lesson plans, August coach training, and an active Slack channel for LEGO League Explore coaches. For LEGO League Challenge, teams of 5–8 meet 1–2 times a week from August through December, and the season ends at the Piedmont Makers Community Tournament at Piedmont Middle School with 12 game tables, two arenas, real referees, and awards including Best Costume, and teams can opt into a Competitive Track for regional qualifiers in January and February. For LEGO League Challenge, Piedmont Makers delivers a 4'×8' game table to the coach’s house and supplies LEGO Spike Prime kits, week-by-week guides, August coach training, and a Slack community of 110+ coaches.
FTC teams of 6–12 kids compete in the East Bay Hills FTC League qualifying tournaments, build 18-inch-cube robots from REV, TETRIX, and goBILDA components, and code robots in Java, and many FTC teams bring on a Highlander Robotics high schooler as a student mentor. FRC Team 8033 has 50+ kids organized into specialty subgroups such as mechanical, electrical, software, scouting, fundraising, and business, and practices at a robotics practice facility in Oakland that is described as the only community-accessible regulation FRC field in the Bay Area. Team 8033 develops Lovat, a scouting app used by 800+ FRC teams worldwide, runs the annual a-CAD-emy summer camp teaching middle schoolers Onshape CAD, mentors local LEGO League teams, and shares training programs with 40+ other FRC teams worldwide.
Team 8033 has reached the FIRST World Championship in Houston four times and won the Impact Award at the San Francisco District tournament, and Piedmont Makers won the Highland Cup in the 2025 Piedmont 4th of July Parade. A parent testimonial states, “Piedmont Makers is what makes this community special,” attributed to Roy, father of 3.
Last updated June 18, 2026.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: LEGO League Explore and LEGO League Challenge run August–December; FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) runs September–February; FRC (Highlander Robotics Team 8033) runs August–June with a January–March build season, with meetings ranging from about 1 hour weekly to multiple weekly meetings depending on program
• Price: LEGO League Explore $200 per participant; LEGO League Challenge $400 per participant; FTC $500 per participant; FRC Team 8033 $800 per participant; cost covers FIRST registration, kits/parts, uniform, competition fees, and coach training, and financial aid is available
Piedmont Makers Robotics Programs are part of Piedmont Makers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting STEAM education and maker culture for kids and adults across the East Bay. Programs are run by parents and volunteers and span from LEGO bricks in 1st grade to 120-pound competition robots in high school, with approximately 1,000 kids on 125+ teams and FIRST Robotics teams in 25+ cities across the East Bay. Piedmont Makers runs the largest community-based youth robotics league in the United States, with about 40% girls in LEGO League, 10% of participants from Title 1 schools, 46% from outside Piedmont, and a Build Like a Girl program where older girls from FRC and FTC teams teach younger girls hands-on robotics.
Piedmont Makers has been operating since 2014 and started over a decade ago, and the Piedmont School Maker Faire is in its 12th year as of 2026. The organization’s mission is to offer engaging and inclusive S.T.E.A.M. experiences for young people in Piedmont, CA and beyond through partnerships that develop and support educational programs. In a referenced year, they logged 1,900+ volunteer hours and awarded $25,694 in STEAM grants to Piedmont Unified School District teachers, and they give $25,000+ in STEAM grants annually. Piedmont Makers built the Mary G. Ross Engineering Lab at Piedmont High School through a capital campaign and secured a multi-year lease on a permanent 10th Street robotics field in Oakland.
The leadership team includes Kevin Clark and Ben Stein as Co-Presidents; Dave Ragones as Co-Founder & Treasurer (Interim); Paul Morrison as Secretary and VP, FIRST Tech Challenge; Lara Oliver as VP, FIRST Tech Challenge; Pat Holder and Shelley Rea as VPs, FIRST LEGO League Challenge; Marta Lusky and David Koslow as VPs, FIRST LEGO League Explore; Natalia Feretti as VP, FIRST Robotics Competition; Ella Grossberg and Brian Van Osdol as VPs, School Maker Faire; Rebecca Heywood and Margaret Bridges as VPs, Grants; Julie Veit as VP, Operations; Mallory Casperson as VP, Fundraising; Keren Khouri for 10th St Coordination; Ken Khouri as 10th St Tech Lead; Greg Wolff as Master Maker; Alex Seiden, Larraine Seiden, Joel Tornatore, and Dave McMurtry as At-large members; and Alya Hameed as FLL/FTC Program Manager.
Piedmont Makers runs robotics teams across the East Bay, a community engineering lab, a yearly School Maker Faire, and popup maker spaces across the East Bay, and programs are open to East Bay students including Oakland, Berkeley, and Lamorinda. The School Maker Faire is free and open to the public and features K–12 students showing projects such as Rube Goldberg machines, robots, embroidered patches, soldered circuits, and 3D-printed items. Popup Maker Spaces are stocked with tools like soldering irons, sewing machines, 3D printers, cardboard, and hot glue, and activities include embroidering patches, soldering circuits, 3D printing, and building Rube Goldberg machines. The organization states that STEAM shouldn’t depend on zip code or family income.
For LEGO League Explore, teams of 5–6 kids meet for 12 weekly hour-long sessions from August through December, and the season culminates in a festival at Piedmont Middle School the weekend after Thanksgiving. Piedmont Makers supplies LEGO kits, week-by-week lesson plans, August coach training, and an active Slack channel for LEGO League Explore coaches. For LEGO League Challenge, teams of 5–8 meet 1–2 times a week from August through December, and the season ends at the Piedmont Makers Community Tournament at Piedmont Middle School with 12 game tables, two arenas, real referees, and awards including Best Costume, and teams can opt into a Competitive Track for regional qualifiers in January and February. For LEGO League Challenge, Piedmont Makers delivers a 4'×8' game table to the coach’s house and supplies LEGO Spike Prime kits, week-by-week guides, August coach training, and a Slack community of 110+ coaches.
FTC teams of 6–12 kids compete in the East Bay Hills FTC League qualifying tournaments, build 18-inch-cube robots from REV, TETRIX, and goBILDA components, and code robots in Java, and many FTC teams bring on a Highlander Robotics high schooler as a student mentor. FRC Team 8033 has 50+ kids organized into specialty subgroups such as mechanical, electrical, software, scouting, fundraising, and business, and practices at a robotics practice facility in Oakland that is described as the only community-accessible regulation FRC field in the Bay Area. Team 8033 develops Lovat, a scouting app used by 800+ FRC teams worldwide, runs the annual a-CAD-emy summer camp teaching middle schoolers Onshape CAD, mentors local LEGO League teams, and shares training programs with 40+ other FRC teams worldwide.
Team 8033 has reached the FIRST World Championship in Houston four times and won the Impact Award at the San Francisco District tournament, and Piedmont Makers won the Highland Cup in the 2025 Piedmont 4th of July Parade. A parent testimonial states, “Piedmont Makers is what makes this community special,” attributed to Roy, father of 3.
Last updated June 18, 2026.
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