Answers from the True Robotics team
Frequently asked questions
True Robotics answers 38 questions here, in 7 topics. They cover the company, the three K-8 programs, the curriculum, the software, teacher training, implementation, and pricing. Open a question to read its answer in place. Jump to a topic below, or ask us the one we missed.
About True Robotics
Who we are, the research behind the K-8 Classroom Suite, and who your school works with.
Who is True Robotics?
True Robotics is a K-8 educational robotics company in Worcester, Massachusetts, about five years old. We were born with one idea: give every student the opportunity to be exposed to STEM and robotics and to see themselves in those spaces, so that by the time they make decisions about their future, they make them in a much more informed way. Our goal is simple: expose them often, expose them early. We believe in providing every student the opportunity to learn with robots, not just the top 10-20% of learners.
What research is the program built on?
True Robotics began with about a year of research in partnership with MIT, asking educators across the country what their real challenges are in STEM education. Every kind of school and every job title named the same four themes: time for new curriculum materials, hands-on STEM activities, access to expert training, and alignment with standards. As our Director of Education puts it, in order to be a good solution, you have to really understand the problem in the first place. The K-8 Classroom Suite is our answer to those four challenges.
Which challenges does the K-8 Classroom Suite address?
Four, named by the educators in our research. Time: there is no time in education to make new curriculum or to implement it, and teachers are already stretched thin. Hands-on STEM: schools need more meaningful hands-on activities with direct connections to the real world. Training: most teacher prep courses include little robotics, coding or STEM, and teachers want more help so they feel confident in front of students. Standards: whatever goes in front of students still has to help them reach the goals set by their districts, states and ed plans. Funding is the barrier behind all of them, so we cover it on its own under Pricing and Funding.
Who will our school work with?
Emily Hajko, our Director of Education, oversees overall school success. She makes sure our programs are a good fit for each school and that we provide what its students and teachers need. The work starts with learning about your school: what you run now for STEM and robotics, and your long-term goals. Emily is a former teacher, and her goal is always to get teachers' prep time down to zero. Every teacher also gets an assigned point of contact at True Robotics, a person they can reach any time they need help.
The K-8 programs
The three programs and their grade bands, what students build, and the FlexForge add-on kits.
What is the K-8 Classroom Suite?
The K-8 Classroom Suite is our answer to the four challenges educators named, and it covers kindergarten through eighth grade. It stands on three pillars: robot kits, curriculum and professional development. We have robots and robot kits, but we really pride ourselves on the other two pillars. Everything comes as one bundled, cohesive package, so a school has everything it needs to run the program well over the long term and keep students engaged year after year.
Which programs are there, and for which grades?
Three programs, one per grade band. Paving the Way with Treads (K-3) has curriculum versions for grades K, 1, 2 and 3, with 25 lessons per grade of about 30 minutes, used as a flexible tool in core classrooms such as math centers and ELA small groups. Taking Off with Pilot (3-5) has versions for grades 3, 4, 5 and General, with 25 lessons of 45 to 60 minutes in a unit that builds from day 1 to day 25 around the Pilot Robot Kit. Introduction to Robotics with Axle (6-8) has versions for grades 6, 7, 8 and General, with 45 lessons of 45 to 60 minutes; students build the Axle Robot Kit, then take it apart.
Why does third grade appear in both Treads and Pilot?
On purpose. Depending on the school and the students' prior experience, some third graders have never done robotics. Treads suits them, especially new third graders in the first semester, because its coding environment is simpler and easier to pick up. Other third graders are mechanically inclined, have done robotics before, or are ready for more. That is why there is also a third grade Pilot curriculum. Pilot is a kit that students put together, which suits children who thrive on hands-on learning, and the coding levels up a little. For a full K-8 pipeline, keep Treads for K, 1 and 2, then move third graders up to Pilot, because they will already have had Treads for three years.
What is the General curriculum?
Pilot and Axle each come with a General curriculum as well as the grade-level versions. It removes any required prior knowledge and looks at robotics and coding as a whole. The grade versions assume grade-level skills: the fifth grade Pilot curriculum, for example, assumes students have a good grasp of third, fourth and fifth grade math and science. Removing that requirement opens the General curriculum to a wider audience. It suits settings such as an after-school club where sixth and eighth graders sit in the same room. Treads has no General version.
Do students build the robots, and what can the robots do?
The Treads Robot needs no assembly: students turn it on and start playing and learning right away. The Pilot Robot Kit has about 150 pieces that students put together with real-world tools, usually in one to three class periods; once built, Pilot uses its ultrasonic sensor to avoid hitting walls. The Axle Robot Kit is like Pilot's big brother, with about double the pieces, built with a screwdriver, a wrench and a ruler. It has an ultrasonic sensor and a light sensor on the bottom for line following. Pilot and Axle also come with a game controller that students learn to program. Every kit comes with all required tools and pieces.
Is the equipment reusable?
Yes. All of our robots and all of our equipment are reusable. Students build Axle and take it apart at the end of the unit, which is also what lets one grade hand the robots on to the next. Treads is never taken apart, so it moves from classroom to classroom all day. The equipment stays with the school, so from year two the only cost to plan for is the license renewal.
What are the FlexForge add-on kits?
Pilot and Axle are our base robots, with a 25-day unit and a 45-day unit. FlexForge is a recent addition: pieces students build onto those base robots to work through the engineering design process. A kit has lots of gray build pieces, plus extra motors and gears, and it comes with a 15-day curriculum extension built around five engineering challenges. In one, students design a claw that grabs an object and carries it across the classroom. In another, they design a snowplow for the front of the robot. Students prototype, test and iterate. The pieces work well on both Pilot and Axle, and the FlexForge curriculum slide lists 5 units of 3 lessons at 45 to 60 minutes each.
Does FlexForge have to come after the regular Pilot or Axle curriculum?
No. It can be woven in. Our Director of Education recently wrote a custom scope for a school that uses Axle with FlexForge and has only about 20 instructional days. Students spend a couple of days on the base robot, building it and learning basic programming. Then they do one engineering design challenge, learn to program one of the sensors, and move on to another engineering design challenge. That course was eighth grade engineering, so the priority was the engineering design process. We work with each school to fit the pieces to what it wants from the course.
Curriculum and lesson materials
Where teachers find the lessons, what comes with each one, prep time and standards alignment.
Where do teachers find the curriculum?
In the Teacher Digital Portal, at truerobotics.org/curriculum-access. The portal has two main resources: the Curriculum Portal, which holds all the teaching resources, and the Learning Portal, which holds all the training resources. When teachers open a program, they see every grade level they have access to, the General curriculum, and for Pilot and Axle a FlexForge add-on folder. Treads has four grade folders: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade. Each program also has a full curriculum map, as a PDF and a Word document, for a quick look at the topics across the unit.
What comes with every lesson?
A detailed lesson plan for every day, with the objectives, the day's vocabulary and recommended lesson activities that spell out how to spend the 45 minutes with students. A pre-built PowerPoint to go with every lesson plan, full of embedded videos: many show our actual screens, with exactly which buttons to press, and whenever students do something for the first time a video shows them what we mean. An entrance ticket and a reflection question every day, a hook at the start and a wrap-up at the end. Materials for the day's content: programming answer keys on programming days, worksheets or graphic organizers on math and science days. And teacher copies with the answers.
Why does every file come as a PDF and a Word document?
So teachers can choose. If you like the PDF as it is, print or download it and teach from it. When you need specific modifications or accommodations for different groups of students, the editable Word version makes that easy. Every lesson plan, entrance ticket, reflection, answer key and curriculum map comes in both formats. The PowerPoint presentation and the lesson videos are the only files that come in one format.
How much prep time do teachers need?
Most of the teachers we work with say prep takes about five minutes once they understand the flow, and that is mostly a matter of how fast the PowerPoint loads on their computer. The lesson plan, presentation, entrance ticket, reflection and answer keys are ready in the Curriculum Portal, so there is nothing to write. Our Director of Education is a former teacher, and her goal is always to get prep time down to zero.
What if a teacher has never taught robotics or coding?
The lessons are built for exactly that. The presentations show students precisely what to do the first time they do anything, so hesitant or intimidated teachers can learn right alongside their students through the videos and the speaker notes. Teachers also get the self-paced Learning Portal, a 30-minute personalized intro session, one to two hour one-on-one training sessions and an assigned point of contact. We always recommend that teachers build the robot themselves, following the portal's build videos, before putting it in front of students.
Is the curriculum aligned to standards?
Alignment with standards was one of the four challenges educators named in our research: whatever goes in front of students still has to help them reach the goals set by their districts, states and ed plans. For Treads, each grade's 25 lessons are written directly to your state's standards for that grade. A Treads math lesson covers a specific standard; for example, a second grade lesson uses the Treads Robot as the manipulative for the place value standard, and Days 16 through 24 cover the ELA standards. For Axle, raising math and science scores is one of the goals we plan around when choosing lessons.
How is the Treads curriculum organized, and how is it used?
Treads does not have to be taught as a unit from day 1 to day 25. Its lessons come in groups. Days 1 to 7 cover robotics and coding: what a robot is, where robots show up in everyday life, what coding means, what algorithms are and how to code. Days 8 to 15 use robotics for math, taught whenever those math concepts come up in the core classroom. Days 16 to 24 cover the ELA standards, and Day 25 is a Final Competition/Performance Day. That structure makes Treads a tool for math centers, ELA small groups, rotations, stations or targeted instruction, and it works especially well for students who struggle with sitting down and doing the workbook.
How does a Pilot unit flow?
Pilot is a unit that builds from day 1 to day 25. Students start with what robotics is, what the Pilot robot is, and why they are learning all this. Then they build the robot, which usually takes one to three class periods. After that, the robot becomes a tool for a lot of other learning: a math review such as fractions, because measuring with a ruler needs halves and fourths; programming challenges, including programming the robot's sensors; obstacle courses and races; and science reviews such as speed and energy, and balanced and unbalanced forces. It is a comprehensive STEM experience rather than just the technology piece.
Axle is a 45-day unit. What if we don't have time for all of it?
We work directly with your teachers on two questions. How many days can you actually give the unit? And what is the program's goal: a tool to raise math and science scores, or an engaging, hands-on introduction to robotics? From those conversations we recommend which of the 45 lessons matter most. The Axle map has a lot of math and science built in, so a school can keep most of those lessons to strengthen math and science learning, or skip some and move into more complex coding. The same help applies to Pilot: if you do not have 25 full days, we build a customized scope and sequence with your school.
Software and devices
What the school provides, how students open the software, and how student data is handled.
What does the school need to provide?
Just devices for students to code on, such as the Chromebooks or iPads your school already uses. The robots are compatible with any Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPad or Android tablet. We provide everything else: the robots and robot kits with all required tools and pieces, the batteries, the chargers, double the screws you will need, the game controller for Pilot and Axle, the curriculum and the professional development.
How do students open the software, and does anything need installing?
Students go to app.truerobotics.org. That opens the True Robotics Playground, where they select the robot they are using: Treads Robot, Pilot Robot, Axle Robot, Starter Blocks, FlexForge Kit or Simulation. Choosing Treads opens the Treads Playground at treads.truerobotics.org. On a Mac or Chromebook nothing needs installing. Windows 10 and 11 computers need a driver, downloaded from the settings gear in the software, and installing it needs administrator rights. On iPad the software is a downloadable app. Use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge; the software cannot be opened in Safari. The lesson videos walk students through setup on each device.
How does the coding change from Treads to Pilot and Axle?
Treads coding is very simple and icon-based. Students drag and drop blocks and connect them so the robot follows patterns: creating a square, driving across the classroom, driving around the desks. With Pilot and Axle, the coding levels up. It is still drag-and-drop, block-based coding, but the blocks use more text and fewer icons. Students learn to sequence blocks for different challenges, use conditionals and loops, program the ultrasonic and light sensors, and program the game controller. The whole progression is our scaffolded drag-and-drop software.
How does the Treads software practice math and reading skills?
We built math and ELA practice right into the Treads programming experience. Students practice math skills such as addition, subtraction, ordering numbers, and counting by fives and tens inside their programs. For ELA, they can practice skills like rhyming words: a kindergarten teacher working on rhyming short vowel words can use the software to test those skills. The feedback is instant. If the answer is right, the robot starts to move and follows the rest of the code. If it is wrong, the robot does not move. The content grows with the students: in older grades it becomes vocabulary practice, high-frequency words or long vowel sounds.
How do programs get onto the robot?
The software connects to the robot over Bluetooth. Students upload their programs and run them right on the robot, and they are off and running. The connection menu also offers USB. Because programs are simply uploaded, a built robot is easy to share: any class can upload its own programs to it, which is why one grade can do the build and every grade can use the robots.
Do students need usernames or passwords? What student data do you collect?
Students do not need any usernames or passwords, and they never log in. That saves class time, because nobody is typing in a password, and it protects students' data: we do not collect any data on your students. Even without logging in, students can save their programs directly onto their Chromebook, so they can keep working in a later class or submit their programs to the teacher. Teachers do have accounts, which we set up together in the 30-minute intro session.
Teacher training and support
The Learning Portal, the intro session, one-on-one sessions and your point of contact.
What is the Learning Portal?
An asynchronous online course, one of several ways we deliver professional development. Each teacher uses the Learning Portal for the program they teach. It works like any online course: teachers move through chapters, watch videos, read articles, follow tutorials and take short built-in quizzes. It covers who we are, how to download the curriculum and what a lesson plan looks like; building the robot, with videos to follow along; maintenance tips; installing and using the software, with screenshots of exactly what the teacher will see; and programming the robot, including the challenges students will do. Teachers have access 24/7, so they can brush up the night before a complex lesson.
What live training and support do teachers get?
It starts with a 30-minute personalized intro session. We make sure the teacher's username and password are set up, show them the digital portal, how to find lesson plans and download the PowerPoints, and help get their classroom set up. That session also introduces the teacher to their person at True Robotics: an assigned point of contact they can reach any time they need help, a very personalized experience versus calling a 1-800 number. We also schedule longer one-on-one training sessions, usually one to two hours, tailored to each teacher: building the robot together, starting to program it, or the quick learning curves for teachers with prior experience.
Is in-person training available?
Yes, for an additional cost. The one-on-one sessions included in a Classroom Package are held virtually, and schools can elect to add in-person training. We always recommend adding in-person sessions for a full-school implementation with several teachers involved; that is when in person can really benefit a rollout.
Implementation and scheduling
Students per robot, how many robots a school needs, and sharing one set across grades.
How many students share a robot, and how long do the batteries last?
We recommend groups of two to three students per robot; that is your best bet for engagement. For the Treads Robot, which needs no assembly, the ideal is 2 students per robot and the battery lasts 60 to 90 minutes. For the Pilot Robot Kit, 2 to 3 students per robot and 4 to 5 hours of battery life. For the Axle Robot Kit, 2 to 3 students per robot and 2 to 3 hours. Batteries and chargers are included with every robot.
How many robots will we need?
We can price a set of robots for every class, and there are also creative ways to share one set. Stagger the units, the best way: sixth grade runs its robotics unit in the fall and takes the robots apart, seventh grade runs it in the winter and eighth grade in the spring, with the same materials passed from classroom to classroom. Or let one grade build: once the robots are built, every grade can use them, because students are just uploading programs. Grades 3 to 5 can follow the same pattern with Pilot. Treads is shared freely, kindergarten in the morning and first grade in the afternoon. Only the build itself needs fixed groups.
Can we run an after-school robotics club?
Yes. Once the robots are built, an engineering or science class can use them in the morning for the base curriculum, and in the afternoon the most interested students can use the FlexForge pieces to go deeper into the engineering design process. The General curriculum also suits clubs where students from different grades work together, because it removes any required prior knowledge. Clubs combine well with staggered units: a grade finishes its classroom unit, then joins the club later in the year.
Pricing and funding
Prices at a glance
| Product | Price |
|---|---|
| Treads Robot | $200 per robot |
| Pilot Robot Kit | $399 per robot |
| Axle Robot Kit | $650 per robot |
| FlexForge Basic | $149 per kit |
| FlexForge Enhanced | $349 per kit |
Per-robot prices, what a Classroom Package includes, Title funds and grants.
How much does it cost?
Robots are priced per unit: the Treads Robot is $200 per robot, the Pilot Robot Kit is $399 per robot, and the Axle Robot Kit is $650 per robot. FlexForge add-on kits are $149 for Basic and $349 for Enhanced. A first-year Classroom Package includes a classroom set of robots, curriculum licensing for the lesson plans, PowerPoints and worksheets, access to the Learning Portal with all of its asynchronous videos, and the full one-on-one training package. The total depends on how many students and teachers are involved, so we quote each school individually.
What do we pay after the first year?
Only the license renewal. From year two on, your school already has the equipment, which is all reusable, and your teachers have already done the training. Licensing for the curriculum and the Learning Portal renews every year, and the renewal amount depends on how many teachers are licensed. Many schools find the yearly license the easy part to build into a budget.
Do you have grants? How do schools pay for this?
The two most common funding routes are Title funds and grants. We work very often with Title I, Title II and Title IV, and if a school has money left over in any of those pools, we can split up the package so each part draws on a different pool. Grant funding is another very common route, and one we know well. Our Director of Education researches grants that are open and available to your school. Once we settle on one that fits, she works with you to fill out the application and put together the budget table, so the submission is strong and has the best chance of winning.
Can we start with just one program?
Yes. It is probably the most common approach: schools pilot the program with one grade band and expand from there. Which band to start with depends on your school and your funding. If a grant can be found for the middle school program, that is a strong place to begin, because those middle schoolers will love it and become the best salespeople in your school as the elementary students watch them. The next year, the school can budget for the other packages, or use the extra time to find more grants.
What happens after a first call?
We start by learning about your school: what you run today for STEM and robotics, and your long-term goals. After the call, we send everything you need to take to your board or leadership team, along with grant options we have researched for you. Then we set a follow-up, typically in about two weeks, to talk through funding and the next step. Request a quote to start the conversation.
Ask us the question we did not answer
Tell us what your school runs today and where you want it to go. We answer your questions, quote a Classroom Package, and research grants for your school.
