501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Our Story
Started from a scientist, a child, and a bin of LEGO
Use the arrow keys or the on-screen ‹ › buttons to move through the story.
A scientist's other world
Our founder earned a PhD in environmental science and worked as a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey — studying water, landscapes, and natural systems. But at home, another world was quietly pulling her in: one built from tiny beams, gears, and a young child's imagination.
It began with a bin of LEGO
When her son was only three or four, he fell in love with LEGO. At first she built beside him simply as a mother — sharing his joy and curiosity.
Falling for the machines
Then she discovered LEGO Technic: gears turning gears, linkages creating motion, small mechanisms acting like real machines. Play became fascination. She built project after project, joined the worldwide Great Ball Contraption community, and shared their creations online. Local programs noticed and asked her to design camp curricula and classes — and when no one could teach them, she stepped in herself.
That step changed everything.
Learn by reverse-engineering
Over years of teaching, she noticed something important:
When children only follow step-by-step instructions, they can finish a model — but often do not understand why it works.
So she put the manual away.
In her classes, students first observe a finished machine. They play with it, test it, compete with it, and ask: “How does this work?”
Then they build their own version.
A gearbox becomes a beyblade launcher. Students experiment with speed, strength, balance, and design. No two builds look the same — because every child thinks differently.
- 1Understand the mechanism.
- 2Build your own solution.
- 3Learn by thinking, testing, and improving.
Into VEX
As her son grew, he discovered VEX robotics competitions — and she followed his curiosity. She learned the robot, the game, the coding, and the strategy. Helping her own child grew into coaching his friends' team — and seeing robotics turn kids into teammates, problem-solvers, and young leaders.
Going all in
She spent two years taking coding and mechanical-design classes from professional coaches, alongside her own kids. At competitions, parents kept asking the same question: “Can you teach my child too?” Eventually she left her research career to devote herself fully to robotics education — and Burning Gear Robotics was born.
More than competition
Trophies matter — but so does the quiet moment a child finally understands a mechanism, the confidence after many failed tries, the friendships around a robot table, and the courage to try again. That's why we run off-season workshops, community events, beginner classes, and sponsorships.
Robotics belongs to every child curious enough to ask “How does this work?” — and brave enough to build their own answer.