San Diego Business Journal

Adventures in STEM

Robolink Drones, Robots Get Kids Ready for the Workforce

■ By KAREN PEARLMAN

Hansol Hong said when he was a young boy growing up in South Korea, he wasn't exposed to the kind of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) learning that he wished he had been – learning that was also fun.

So after he graduated from UCSD in 2010 with a degree in management sciences, he set out to do just that.

Hong in 2012 founded Robolink, a company that makes robotics kits that teach coding and engineering in fun and approachable ways for young kids and teenagers.

“Technology was really rising then and there was a job shortage at that time,” Hong said. “When I started in 2012, there were all these up-and-coming tech jobs but there was a lack of computer scientists and engineers. I started thinking, ‘Why don't we teach tech at an early age and make it accessible?'”

Hong, who is 34, said he started thinking back to when he was younger “and how I hadn't been exposed to anything like this, and how I wish I had been exposed to something fun (in STEM).”

Essential 21st Century Skill

He said coding is “an essential skill for the 21st century.”

With that mindset and knowing kids love robots, he started the company with a friend from college, Wesley Hsu. They began with what he called a “janky prototype” and started an afterschool program of robotics instruction.

Their original group of five students learning programming with robots became 20 kids, then 100 and then 200, Hong said.

The afterschool program had 20,000 San Diego County students at one time.

In the last three years Robolink has morphed into the company it is today, one that makes robot and drone kits with lesson plans and tutorials to be used by instructors in the classroom to help kids enjoy learning about technology.

Like science kits that school districts purchase for their teachers, Robolink's items, including a self-driving car kit that teaches artificial intelligence, are a “STEM in a box” concept, Hong said.

Robolink items are being used in close to 2,000 schools nationwide, Hong said. He said the company targets upper elementary school age kids to high school students, typically fourth through 10th graders.

“All schools need to do is open the box, that comes with everything, and follow our instructions,”

Hong said. “Within five minutes or so, students will be flying drones and doing interesting things.”

Hsu, whose parents are from Taiwan, grew up in Illinois. He is Robolink's chief product officer, and works out of Chicago. Hsu tests out features and looks into how they can be improved. He designs many of the changes himself, with the ultimate goal of keeping learning fun and accessible, and preparing kids for the workforce.

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2022-05-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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