RuralBots Academy Mitreni: the first months of robotics
On June 19, RuralBots Academy Mitreni ended, the robotics workshop program held between February 23, 2026 and June 19, 2026. There were several intense months, in which robotics reached the two schools in the commune and in which 80 children had free access to construction, programming and teamwork activities.
For Mitreni, this year was not about the continuity of an already established laboratory, like in Vasilați, but about the actual beginning of a journey. The children came into contact with a constantly running robotics program for the first time, they discovered the parts, mechanisms, logic of a robot and the way in which an idea only starts to work after several attempts.
At first there was natural curiosity and wonder. Then came the questions, the first constructions, the first programs, the first repairs, and the children began to understand not only what they had to do, but also how to work together: to exchange ideas, to divide tasks, to wait, to insist, and not to give up immediately when something doesn't work out.
A highlight of this first year was the participation of the children from Mitreni in the RuralBots Open Championship, the national robotics competition organized by ARTESA on June 20, in Vasilați. For them, it was their first participation in a robotics competition.
In 2025, the children of Vasilați were experiencing the excitement of their first participation in a robotics competition.
For us, that was one of the moments that showed that a program built in a rural community can take children further than it seemed possible at first. This year, Mitreni had its own such moment. After just a few months of workshops, the children arrived at the competition table, with emotions, with teams, with robots and with the desire to do their best.
It wasn't just the result that was important, but also the fact that they were there, that they got into the rhythm of a competition, that they felt the pressure of time, that they saw other teams working, that they understood what it means to prepare for something concrete. For a program at the beginning, this is one of the best forms of confirmation.
And confirmations also came through the distinctions obtained by the children from Mitreni and Valea Roșie at the RuralBots Open Championship. These distinctions did not only reward the score, but also the way the teams worked, collaborated, stayed involved and took the competition to the end.
RuralBots Academy Mitreni could not have started this way without the support of the people in the school. We would like to thank in particular the director Mihaela Cristea and the teachers from the two schools, who were close to the children and made it possible for the workshops to naturally enter the life of the school. In a project at its beginning, this support matters enormously, not only logistically, but also humanly.
A few days after the end of the academy and after the emotions of the first competition, the feeling remains that something important happened in Mitreni: the children took the first step. They discovered robotics not as a passing demonstration, but as an activity from which they can learn while having fun.