Giving back takes different forms. Maybe it’s volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or helping to clean up a community park. For Toyota Research & Development (R&D) Engineers Aaron Atkinson and Scott Smith, giving back looks like robots. FIRST Robotics, to be specific.

The duo each mentor FIRST Robotics teams in Saline, Michigan, and those FIRST Robotics teams happen to be pretty good at it.

Both Atkinson’s FIRST Lego League team and Smith’s Middle FIRST Tech Challenge team recently won respective Michigan state titles. While world domination is always a plus, the true reward of their volunteering is mentoring the engineers of tomorrow.

With that, see Atkinson and Smith in action with one of their practices. Watch the video below to see mentoring in action.

Originally published May 9, 2024

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