Design. Build. Code. Compete.
Middle Tennessee's robotics and engineering center for kids, building young engineers since 2011.
Real robots, real tools and coaches who hand kids a hard problem without handing over the answer. What started in a garage is now a full K–12 lab, with online courses for families anywhere.
TRClass
Real engineering, one level at a time. Students design, build and code real robots on the same platforms used in FIRST and Robot Drone League competition.
Real robots. Real engineering.
Students work with LEGO SPIKE, Sphero Blueprint and indi, our own 3D-printed ASTRObot, CAD software and 3D printers. They plan in real engineering notebooks and follow the same design cycle working engineers use.
Progress you can see.
Lessons are sequenced so skills stack up from session to session. Every session ends with a capstone project students design, build and present, and families come in on capstone day to see what they made work.
More ways to build with us
Competition teams, open lab time, camps, homeschool classes, Saturday builds and online courses for families anywhere.
TRCompetition
FLL, FTC, Robot Drone League and Sphero teams that compete at regional, state and national events.
TRCreator Lab
Open lab time to tinker, design and keep building between classes, with mentors on hand to help.
TRCamp
Skill-building camps where campers launch missions and engineer mighty things over school breaks.
TRCommunity Homeschool
Transcript-ready engineering courses with 30+ hands-on labs, textbooks and assessments, built for homeschool families.
NewTRC212 STEAM Saturdays
Two hours of hands-on aerospace, rocketry, science and engineering. One Saturday, one complete build, taken home the same day.
TRC Online
Live, mentor-guided cohorts in robotics, CAD and space engineering, with build kits shipped to your door.
TN STEAM Festival at TRC
We're opening our labs to the community and launching TRC212 STEAM Saturdays. Everything is hands-on and free, so bring the whole family.
- Take the controls of the ASTRObot, TRC's own 3D-printed robotics platform.
- Get up close with Pathfinder, our student-built quarter-scale replica of NASA's Perseverance rover.
- Watch a part go from CAD sketch to printer bed at a live 3D printing station.
- Meet the students who build, code and drive our FTC and Robot Drone League robots.
Your student is learning. But are they building?
Rigorous, hands-on STEM is hard to pull off at home. The equipment is expensive, the projects need real space and tools, and the kit gathers dust after one weekend. TRC gives students real lab equipment, real tools and coaches who have done the work themselves.
I started TRC in my garage to teach my own sons real engineering. One is an aerospace engineer now. Fifteen years later, TRC is here for yours.
Three steps to launch
Schedule a tour.
Visit the center, see the labs and watch students at work. Bring your questions.
Find their mission.
We'll learn about your child and match them to the right level and program.
Launch their mission.
Enroll and watch them go from curious to confident.
A vector has direction and magnitude. God provides the direction; students bring the effort, skill and perseverance. Each month's Vector ties a character theme to the engineering in the lab.
This month's VectorSchedules, registration and updates on your phone. Sign in with your Sawyer login. You don't need a new account.
Come see why families call TRC home
You can't learn engineering from a textbook alone.
Your student is learning. But are they building?
Kids learn engineering by doing engineering — hands on the parts, mind on the problem, something real to show for it at the end. Whether you homeschool with intention or you're filling the gaps a classroom can't, you've probably hit the same wall: rigorous, hands-on STEM is hard to pull off at home.
The equipment is expensive — trust me, I know. The projects need space and tools a kitchen table doesn't have. And there's a world of difference between reading about forces and motion and building the robot that has to survive them. So the kit gathers dust after one weekend. The experiment turns into a craft project. And a student who was ready for more quietly settles for less.
That's what I built TRC for. Real lab equipment, real tools, real space — and coaches who've done the work themselves and know how to hand a kid a hard problem without handing over the answer. Your student is ready for more than checking boxes.
Let's help them ENGINEER MIGHTY THINGS.
I'm Coach Mike. Navy combat veteran, carrier aviation. I earned my M.Ed. from Purdue while working full time and raising a family.
Fifteen years coaching championship robotics teams at every level. But here's the part that actually matters: I started TRC in my garage, with a few good people beside me, to teach my own sons real engineering. One is an aerospace engineer now. The other, working in digital media and audio engineering. Fifteen years and 1000+ students later, TRC is here for yours.
Schedule and registration
Choose a date and time below to reserve your spot. Questions? Call 615-796-4632.
TRC APP is now published.
Get it today!
download it in your favorite app store. NOTE use your Sawyer login as your credentials for the app. you do not create a new account.
TRC STEAM FESTIVAL EVENT AND TRC212 LAUNCH- FREE
TENNESSEE ROBOTICS CENTER OPENS ITS LABS TO THE COMMUNITY FOR THE TENNESSEE STEAM FESTIVAL — AND LAUNCHES TRC212, A NEW SATURDAY STEAM PROGRAM (GRADES 3–8)
TRC has been developing young engineers in Murfreesboro since 2011. What started in a garage is now Middle Tennessee's premier K–12 robotics and engineering program, with more than 1,000 students through its doors. TRC212 is built for families who want serious hands-on STEAM without a season-long commitment: one Saturday, one complete build, start to finish. Sessions rotate through aerospace and rocketry, engineering, science, and design — every one of them finished and taken home the same day. It debuts here, at the STEAM Festival.
Everything on October 24 is hands-on and FREE.
Take the controls of the ASTRObot, TRC's own 3D-printed robotics platform. Get up close with a student-built quarter-scale replica of NASA's Perseverance rover we call Pathfinder and see how rocker-bogie suspension lets a machine cross terrain no ordinary wheeled vehicle could manage. Watch a part travel from CAD sketch to printer bed at a live 3D printing station. Then meet the students who build, code, and drive competition robots for the FIRST Tech Challenge and the Robot Drone League.
TRC212 STEAM Saturdays: Launching October 24 at the TN STEAM Festival Event
TRC212 is our new Saturday STEAM skills program for students in grades 3–8. Each session is two hours of hands-on aerospace, rocketry, science, and engineering activities. Students take home everything they build. Launch day will be on October 24 and is
free, so bring the whole family to the TN STEAM Festival and come see the STEAM lab in action. Future Saturday events will be available for scheduling online and prices will depend on the subject taught.
dare mighty things
Our mission is to inspire the next generation to Dare Mighty Things through comprehensive engineering education in Technology, Robotics, and Computer Science, developing confident problem-solvers who will shape tomorrow's technology and make a positive impact on our world.
Thanks to our TEAM sponsors and supporters
