Design research that transformed a robotics tutoring company into a community institution — now serving 634 students per year, with 92% building their first robot in the first two sessions.
Who We Worked With
Boston Tech Initiative
Partners
Frankie Day-Lyon
Services
Research & Strategy
Project Fun Fact
92% of students build their first robot in the first two sessions
A robotics startup asked us what families actually wanted. Now 634 kids a year walk through the door.
The Boston Tech Initiative had a vision: build Cambridge’s first robotics community hub for kids. They had the technical expertise, the passion, and a small but loyal following. What they didn’t have was a clear picture of what families in their community actually needed — and without that, they couldn’t grow.
We conducted in-depth interviews with a range of participants — kids and parents — in places that were meaningful to them — and trained BTI’s Workshop Director in human-centered design so the organization could keep running this kind of research on its own. From approximately 40 pages of notes, we distilled 34 key findings and developed 12 strategic recommendations across growth, curriculum, space design, and scheduling.
What the research revealed reshaped everything. We learned that the number one reason kids join a program is because their friends are going — not because of the curriculum. We learned that parents desperately want a space where their kids can learn teamwork and collaboration outside of sports, but that many STEM programs over-simplify their material and lose the kids who need challenge the most. We found a massive unmet demand for FIRST LEGO League teams with nowhere to meet or practice. And we discovered that parents need the space to work for them too — not just as a drop-off, but as somewhere they can actually be productive and meet other parents while their kids learn.
BTI took those findings and built The RoboHub: a full robotics and AI community center at 86a Sherman Street in Cambridge, offering after-school programs, summer camps, vacation camps, school partnerships, and birthday parties. The space was designed around exactly what the research told us families needed — challenging curriculum with real choice, a welcoming environment that doesn’t feel like school, and infrastructure that works for parents and kids simultaneously.
Today, 634 students enroll in RoboHub programs each year. 92% of students build and program their first robot in their first two sessions. The organization went from minimal revenue to six figures, and their 2026 summer camps are already filling up.
We handed them a research report. They built a community center.
