Hawaii Robo LabsCurriculum & learning path
One syllabus, from a first LED to autonomous robotics.
Robotics is not a one-off workshop. Our curriculum starts with age-appropriate electronics and visual programming, then moves through Arduino and ESP32, Python, ROS 2, computer vision and AI — each step using the same platform, the same robots and the same Knowledge Base.
Structured syllabus
A progressive curriculum, not a box of parts.
The syllabus is arranged by the student’s age, skill level and progress, so a beginner can start at electronics fundamentals while an advanced group moves on to ROS 2 and autonomous behaviour. Every topic below has projects, Knowledge Base articles and hardware behind it.
Electronics and first programs
How a circuit works, what a sensor reports and what a program does — built on a breadboard, not on a slide.
- electronics fundamentals
- sensors & actuators
- microcontrollers
- Blockly programming
- logic & loops
- motors & motor control
Arduino, ESP32 and automation
Real boards, real wiring and code the student can read. Projects start doing useful work and reach the network.
- Arduino programming
- Arduino C/C++
- ESP32 & IoT
- wireless communication
- automation
- robotics fundamentals
Python, ROS 2, vision and AI
The technologies professional robotics teams actually use, introduced through the same block workspace before students write them by hand.
- Python programming
- ROS / ROS 2
- computer vision
- artificial intelligence
- machine learning
- autonomous robotics
- real-world applications
Showcase projects
Every project opens in the browser, start to finish.
Learning is more meaningful when a student can see what they are building. Each showcase project carries its objective, the concepts behind it, the hardware it needs and step-by-step instructions — beside a workspace where the code actually runs.
- Understand the objective of the project before touching a wire
- Learn the concepts the project depends on
- See exactly which parts and boards are required
- Follow step-by-step instructions with wiring diagrams
- Write and modify the code, in blocks or in text
- Run and test the program on real hardware
- Experiment with different parameters and values
- Observe how the robot’s behaviour changes
- Troubleshoot when the result is not what was expected
- Extend the project with the student’s own ideas
- Compare against “what you should see” when it works
Integrated coding environment
The right programming interface at every stage.
A student should never be blocked by syntax on day one, or held back by blocks in year three. Every platform we support can be programmed from the interface that suits the stage the student has reached — all inside the same ecosystem, with the same projects and the same account.
Blockly, for the first steps
Drag-and-drop blocks teach programming concepts before a student meets a semicolon — and the generated code sits beside the workspace the whole time.
- logic
- variables
- conditions
- loops
- functions
- sensor inputs
- motor control
- events
- robotics algorithms
Arduino & ESP32, into real C/C++
Blocks generate the Arduino C++ that is flashed to the board, so the step into text-based programming — here or in the Arduino IDE — is a change of editor, not a change of subject.
- Blockly
- Arduino C/C++
- embedded projects
Blockly Python, for ROS robots
Advanced robotics visually first: the same workspace generates real rclpy nodes, so students reason about nodes and topics before writing Python by hand.
- robot movement
- sensors
- motors
- navigation
- ROS nodes
- topics
- services
- autonomous behaviours
The progression students actually follow
- Blockly
- Python
- ROS / ROS 2
- advanced robotics
Computer vision & AI
AI the students build, not AI they are told about.
Rather than explaining what artificial intelligence is, the platform lets a class collect their own images, label them, train a model, test how accurate it is and then put that model to work in a robotics project.
What a student learns
- image classification
- object detection
- image recognition
- dataset creation
- data collection
- data labelling
- model training
- model testing
- model evaluation
- AI inference
- camera-based robotics
- AI-powered applications
The learning flow
- Collect data
- Label data
- Train model
- Test model
- Deploy model
- Control the robot
A class can train a classifier in one lesson and drive a robot with it in the next. That turns AI from a theory topic into something a student can demonstrate and explain.
The whole pathway
From STEM fundamentals to real-world robotics.
The same ecosystem carries a student the whole way. Schools can stop at any stage and pick it up in a later year — the projects, the account and the hardware all continue.
STEM fundamentals and electronics
Circuits, components, measurement and the first working build on a breadboard.
- STEM fundamentals
- electronics
- sensors & actuators
Microcontrollers and visual programming
Arduino and ESP32 boards programmed in Blockly, then in the Arduino C/C++ the blocks generate.
- Arduino / ESP32
- Blockly programming
- Arduino C/C++
- automation
- IoT
Python, ROS 2 and computer vision
Robot software the way the industry writes it — nodes, topics and Python — reached through blocks first.
- Python
- ROS / ROS 2
- computer vision
- artificial intelligence
- machine learning
Autonomous robotics and real projects
Students put it together: a robot that senses, decides and acts, solving a problem they chose themselves.
- autonomous robotics
- real-world projects
- industry applications
Beyond the kit
The ecosystem a robotics program needs.
Hardware alone does not make a robotics program work. Each package brings the robots, the curriculum, the software, the projects and the support together.
Robots and kits
Boards, sensors, chassis and classroom robots chosen to match the projects in the syllabus.
Curriculum and projects
A progressive syllabus, 58 guided projects and 74 Knowledge Base articles behind them.
Software platform
Five dashboards in the browser, with nothing to install on school computers.
Teacher training and support
Onboarding for the staff who will run the lessons, and articles written so a first-timer can teach from them.
Ask for the syllabus for your school.
Tell us the classes you teach and the years you want to cover, and we will map the syllabus, the projects and the hardware onto them.