OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY IMPACT

Our Drive

In addition to exercising best practices of experiential learning and collaboration within our talented team of young engineers, we seek to nurture the self-confidence of students beyond the walls of our LASA workshop through initiatives that break through barriers standing in the way of STEM education.

Event Outreach Hours (2023-2025)

2531

Total Outreach Hours (2025)

1494

SMART Camps

Purple Haze has hosted SMART (Science, Mathematics, and Robotics Technology) camps every summer since 2006 to give kids an introduction into the world of FIRST and encourage them to continue their involvement in robotics by serving as friendly and informative role models in STEM. Previously, these camps were offered for free to Title 1 schools, and while there is a fee now, we have a robust scholarship program easily available to everyone.

With our final camp wrapping up on August 1st, SMART Camps 2025 were a success! Please see the data below to learn more about how they went, and make sure to look out for our NEW day-long SMART Camps, scheduled for this autumn, by signing up on the email list below:

Camp Levels & Curriculum

SMARTies

Grades 2-3

Work with LEGO SPIKE Prime Kits

Advanced LEGO/EV3

Grades 4-5

Work with LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Kits

SMART

Grades 6-7

Work with VEX V5 Kits

Every day starts with a STEM-related warmup, including activities such as building your own bridge, cardboard robotic hand, slingshot cars, and more!

The Numbers

175 Campers

Shared FIRST to 150+ families

38 Different Schools

Including 31 public schools, 2 of which are Title 1, meaning they receive federal support due to the number of students eligible for free or reduced lunch surpasses 40%.

18.3% Received Scholarships

32 scholarships for 175 students

Three tiers: 50% off, 75% off, and 96% off.

Great Reviews!

"[Our son] felt like he fit in, he was accepted, he was encouraged and he was thrilled to make new friends. He has finally found his people and we can't thank you enough."

Caryle Levine, Week 1 Parent

"Always excited to go back everyday. Asked to stay longer at end of each day!"

Bekah Singthao, Week 2 Parent

"Y'all are doing a great job!! Keep in up :)"

Angela Koh, Week 1 Parent

"He learned a lot about coding and how to troubleshoot or improve his robot. He was so excited on day 1 and couldn’t wait for the next day. I have never seen him so excited for a program/camp! Thank you for providing such a fun and safe space for him!"

Laure Vasquez, Week 1 Parent

Fungineering Workshops

Our passion for teaching others about science and technology inspires us to find new ways to spark curiosity and make a direct impact on the Austin community. Our 'Fungineering' (Fun + Engineering) Workshops, held in partnership with the Austin Public Library is one example of a mutually beneficial partnership that accomplishes this goal.

Started in 2023 by team member Ruby Venkatesh ('2025) and late mentor Riad Nassar, they have expanded to five different branches across Austin, with the objective of targeting low-income areas. These workshops are entirely free, family-friendly, and are station-based so families can come, cycle through, and go whenever they want.

We have impacted around 100 families so far and are excited to meet hundreds more this coming fall by doubling our 2025 Fungineering Workshop efforts.

Locations

Willie Mae Kirk Branch

4 half-day workshops held in 2023 (currently under renovation)

University Hills Branch

4 half-day workshops held in 2024, four more in 2025

Cepeda Branch

Upcoming in fall of 2025

Little Walnut Creek Branch

Upcoming in fall of 2025

STEM Nights

We held our first STEM night in partnership with Mills Elementary in 2024, reaching around 300 people, and are hoping to expand to three more campuses in 2025.

We offer a station-based layout, including interactive robot demos, code tours, short presentations about what FIRST is, and a TV screen playing real FRC matches. In the coming months we hope to integrate virtual reality, CAD (Computer Aided Design), LEGOs, and more to make the experience entertaining and educational for all ages.

Interested in setting up a STEM night at your campus? Email us at outreach@lasarobotics.org!

Helping Other Teams

We are always excited to meet and willing to help out other organizations, especially other FIRST teams. This past year we ran an external design review for FTC Team 24017 'Copper Cookies to review their robot's CAD design.

In the 2023-2024 season, we mentored FLL teams 48106, 44940, 47718, and 48105 at Trinity Episcopal Middle School in block-based programming, game strategy, engineering design, and work on innovation projects. This coming year, we will continue to offer our support as much as we can, and in the coming years we hope to expand our mentoring efforts to potentially all FTC and FLL teams in the Austin area if possible.

"Purple Haze helped us a lot with our robot design and build problems. They helped us become more efficient by informing us of the weaker aspects of our design and how we can improve them."

Copper Cookies, FTC Team 24017

Furthermore, during the 2025 Kickoff in January, our team acted as a supply hub for other teams to get their REEFSCAPESM game pieces and other items from FIRST’s Kickoff Kits. Students and mentors from thirteen central Texas teams aside from ours joined us in our shop to watch the Kickoff announcement video and celebrate the beginning to an exciting season! We had so much fun together, and we hope to do this again next year and potentially make it a tradition. See the team list below!

2158 - The ausTIN CANs

2583 - Orange Dynamite

2789 - TEXPLOSION

2881 - The Lady Cans

2950 - Devastators

5052 - TheRoboLobos

5503 - Smithville Tiger Trons

6377 - Howdy Bots

6800 - Valor

8088 - Bionic Panthers

8816 - Coyotronics

9140 - The Robobots

9506 - Conspiracy Robotics

Additionally, our code team has curated and maintained PurpleLib (see below).

PurpleLib

In 2024, we created PurpleLib, a free and open library designed to help other FRC teams with coding. It includes tools for logging information, as well as support for controlling Swerve drivetrains and hardware devices. Our goal was to make the development process easier for teams.

Since then, other teams like 5406 Celt-X, 5516 Iron Maple, and 2586 Copper Bots have started using it. Our code team continues to develop and update PurpleLib by adding new features, supporting more hardware setups, and listening to feedback from users to meet the needs of different teams.

Shine Program

In 2023, we worked closely with a cohort of around 15 students from the Trinity Episcopal School's Shine program over a week. This permitted lots of 1-on-1 mentorship, and of course, lots of fun!

"Shine is a program of Trinity Episcopal School that supports families from under-resourced communities in Austin, Texas, in order to combat summer learning loss and boost student achievement. The program provides a dynamic curriculum, top-notch facilities, passionate educators, fun excursions, and other resources, at no cost to participating families."

We ran a general STEM curriculum similar to our SMART Camps, using LEGO SPIKE Primes and FLL Fields.

FIRST PHinder

There are many FIRST teams in Austin, but we have found that most of the community is unfamiliar with them. Our FIRST PHinder dashboard (pioneered by team member Soumik Chemudupati, '26) utilizes our database of FLL and FTC teams in the greater Austin area, filtering teams by grade level and plotting their locations on an interactive map. The contact information for many teams is also provided, allowing greater access to FIRST.

Try FIRST PHinder!