Young minds. Powerful ideas. Real change. A program where kids read, code, and build robots — and learn to lead while they do it.
Fred Hampton | 1948 – 1969
Fred Hampton was ten years old when he started hosting weekend breakfasts for the kids in his neighborhood in Maywood, Illinois. Cooking the food himself. Ten. Before the Black Panther Party, before the Rainbow Coalition, before any of the organizing that would make him a target of the FBI — a child looked around his community and understood, instinctively, that the work starts with showing up for the people next to you.
By high school he was leading walkouts, demanding Black representation among teachers and administrators. He took over the NAACP Youth Council and grew it from two hundred members to five hundred in a community of twenty-seven thousand. By twenty, he was chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, building the Free Breakfast Program that fed thousands of children before school every morning, standing up medical clinics, running political education classes at six in the morning, and forging the Rainbow Coalition — a multiracial alliance that said poverty and racism don't respect color lines, so solidarity can't either.
He was assassinated at twenty-one.
The name Revolutionaries comes from that lineage. Not the romanticized version — the real one. The version where revolution looks like a ten-year-old making breakfast for his neighbors because nobody else was going to do it. Where it looks like young people learning to code, build robots, read, and think critically — not because someone told them to, but because the work of building something better starts with building yourself.
Hampton knew it before he could drive. Our kids are living it now.
Adults don't lead the Revolution. They mentor the Revolutionaries.
— Our philosophyWe don't build robots for the kids. We teach the kids to build robots.
— Our cultureRobotics, coding, and literacy each ask a kid to do the same underlying thing: hold a structure in mind — a circuit, a sequence, a story — and figure out what happens next. We built the program around that overlap instead of treating hands-on building, coding, and reading as separate hours.
Our robotics track is a competitive FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge team — kids build and program an autonomous robot, take on a research project, and present both to judges at a real tournament.
Every Revolutionary is reading something of their own choosing outside of sessions and brings it back to share. No home computer, no prior experience, and no cost to join required.
Every kid gets real instructor time and hands-on time with the robotics kits, working and learning alongside the full group rather than being split off into separate small groups. This year, our FIRST LEGO League Challenge roster is grades 4–8; our K–3 Revolutionaries build foundational skills right alongside them and assist the team.
130 Ave G SE, Winter Haven, FL 33881 (It Takes a Village)
Weekly meeting day and time will be set at our informational meeting — Monday, September 21 at 5:12 PM, at It Takes a Village (Event side). Questions before then? Reach us at RevolutionaryRobotics@proton.me.
Building robots, writing code, solving problems, playing chess, working together. No stock photos — just our kids doing real work.
Every Revolutionary brings whatever book they're currently reading on their own — no assigned text, no read-aloud. They share 2–3 sentences: what the book's about, what they liked, what they'd change, and what real-life lesson it holds.
Coding time using beginner-friendly, block-based or text tools — kids build at their own pace, with instructors and mentors nearby to help, not to hand them the answer.
Hands-on time building and programming our FIRST LEGO League Challenge robot — sensors, motors, missions on the game field. Kids build it themselves; adults teach, they don't build it for them.
Every session closes with kids showing what they made to the group. Older members mentor newer ones, and this is where the team preps its robot runs and research presentation for FIRST LEGO League tournament day.
Each week, kids get a short assignment to work through on their own before the next meetup — not busywork, but the same skill practiced without a room full of instructors nearby. Independent learning and consistency are part of what we're building, not a side effect of it.
Free, self-paced computer science courses. This is where assigned coding practice happens — kids can pick up exactly where they left off from any browser.
A logic and sequencing puzzle game built for kids. It drills the same step-by-step thinking that both robot programming and reading comprehension depend on — planning a sequence, then debugging it when it doesn't work.
Autodesk's free browser-based design and circuits tool. Our robotics team uses it to test wiring and model ideas before building them for real with the FIRST LEGO League kit.
Login credentials are provided once registration is complete and your child's uniform shirt has been ordered — an adult lead will hand them out as each platform comes into use, not all at once.
This is the competitive side of the program. Our team builds and programs an autonomous robot to complete missions on a themed course, then researches a real-world problem tied to the season's theme and presents their solution to a panel of judges — the same format FIRST LEGO League teams run worldwide.
Teams run up to 10 kids. This is our first year competing — the season builds toward a regional tournament, where the robot runs, the research presentation, and the team's teamwork are all judged. Younger Revolutionaries train and assist alongside the roster.
FIRST LEGO League is run on a set of Core Values — teamwork, discovery, and respect over rankings. That's the same spirit behind our own 10 Point Program, so the competition reinforces what we're already teaching, it doesn't compete with it.
Placeholder — add once you have it: your tournament date and region/league name.
This year's Challenge centers on biodiversity. Here's the official Robot Game Missions video from FIRST® LEGO® League, showing exactly what our team will be building toward.
Full guidebooks, rulebooks, and building instructions: BIOGLOW Season Materials (FIRST LEGO League).
Reading is non-negotiable. We will read what we enjoy and what challenges us. Manga. Comic books. Graphic novels. Anime. Science. Technology. History. Fiction. Nonfiction. Biographies. Whatever sparks our curiosity — just read. Reading gives us knowledge, expands our imagination, strengthens our communication, and gives us the power to learn anything.
Revolutionaries read.
We respect every person, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or what they believe. We speak with kindness and respect. We also respect ourselves. We come to class clean, smelling good, properly groomed, and presentable. We represent ourselves, our families, our community, and The Revolutionaries.
Dignity starts with how we treat ourselves and others.
We will never be afraid to say, "I don't know." Instead, we will ask questions, research, experiment, read, listen, and learn. We will learn how things work — and then ask how we can make them better.
Knowledge is not something we simply receive. It's something we pursue. Stay curious. Keep learning.
We appreciate Black history and the Black experience. We know that Black people have always been innovators, scientists, engineers, inventors, creators, educators, and problem-solvers. We will learn about the Black men and women whose ideas helped shape our world.
We stand on the shoulders of innovators — and we will carry that legacy forward.
We will take responsibility for our words, our decisions, our work, and our actions. We will not place blame on others. When we are wrong, we will acknowledge it and correct it.
Accountability means owning it, correcting it, and growing from it.
Every Revolutionary is capable of leadership. A leader listens, serves, teaches, encourages, takes responsibility, and makes others better. We lead with knowledge, confidence, humility, and purpose.
We don't wait for leaders. We develop them.
We are a team. We will not tear each other down. We will help each other. When one of us learns, we all learn. When one of us struggles, we help. When one of us succeeds, we celebrate.
We are stronger together than we are apart.
We will move with positive intention inside and outside of the learning space. We will do the right thing even when nobody is watching. We will be honest in our work, our relationships, and our everyday lives. We create positive change in all things we do.
Our character matters as much as our skills.
We will come to every practice ready to learn, build, code, read, collaborate, and contribute. We will take care of our equipment. We will know our assignments. We will respect practice time and prepare for tournaments.
Our uniform is black pants/shorts that allow movement + The Revolutionaries shirt. We show up ready.
We will not demand perfection, we will demand effort. Some days will be hard. Some robots will fail. Some code won't work. Some competitions won't go our way. We will keep going, learn from failure, try again, and push ourselves to be better than yesterday.
We give our best — every day.
I am a Revolutionary.
I will read. I will learn.
I will respect myself and others.
I will honor my history.
I will take accountability.
I will lead with integrity.
I will help my team.
I will show up prepared.
I will create positive change.
And I will give my best every day.
I am not just building a robot.
I am building myself.
I am building my community.
I am building the future.
Read. Code. Build. Lead.
We are The Revolutionaries.
Fill this out as a parent or guardian. We'll follow up by email with the current schedule, our Discord invite, and a consent form to sign at your first session.
We're where it starts. When our kids reach high school, the next step is Rockstar Robotics — an established competitive robotics team (est. 2010) with programs spanning multiple FIRST levels, from FLL up through FRC. If your child is younger now, this is where they're headed. If you already have a high schooler, this is where they can start today — you don't have to wait for them to come up through us first.
Rockstar Robotics meets at two locations:
1169 1st St S, Winter Haven, FL 33880 (Robocade)
5211 Hernandes Drive, Orlando, FL 32808
Parent of a high schooler interested in robotics? Email rockstarrobotics@gmail.com, visit Robocade in person and ask for Lee, or find them online: their website or Facebook.
Stay tuned — something big is coming.
The Revolutionaries believe in supporting the people and businesses that support our community. These are the partners who stand with us.
Home of the Owls | KG – 5th Grade
Village Learning Academy is more than a school — it's the reason the Revolutionaries Robotics program has a place to call home. Principal Latasha Ealey and her team opened their doors, gave us space to build, learn, and grow, and treated our students like their own. That kind of generosity doesn't come with conditions. It comes from people who genuinely believe that it takes a village to raise a child — and then show up to be that village every single day.
Their mission centers on character development and community service alongside academics — the same values the Revolutionaries carry into every session. We're proud to build inside a space that stands for something real.
130 Avenue G SE, Door A, Winter Haven, FL 33880
A local Winter Haven kitchen we're proud to support. Caribbean and Latino flavors, good people, part of the same community we're building in. When you support Fuego27, you're supporting the neighborhood.
586 Avenue C SE, Winter Haven, FL 33880
Scan to Order
Veteran-owned barbershop right here in downtown Winter Haven. Family-friendly, welcoming atmosphere, and part of the same community fabric we're all building together. Support a veteran — get a fresh cut.
37 5th St NW, Winter Haven, FL 33881
Scan to Book
Our uniform is part of who we are — it's how we show up prepared. Order your official Revolutionaries shirt through Quality Uniform Solutions, our local print partner in Winter Haven.
Order ShirtsSign your student in and out, log volunteer hours, and stay up to date with program announcements — all in one place.
No account required. Works on any phone or computer.
Email us any time at RevolutionaryRobotics@proton.me.
Already registered? Ask us for the Discord invite link in your welcome email — it's not posted publicly so we can keep the server to verified members only.
