Video: Robot Takeover at a New Jersey Mall
Video: Robot Takeover at a New Jersey Mall
The next generation of mechanical engineers turned a mall into a robot arena. Watch ASME’s RoboCon tour highlights.
Imagine stepping into a mall on a Sunday afternoon and being approached by a quadruped robot dog, walking past R2-D2, or dodging an actual robot trash can named Oscar.
That—and a robot rumble competition—is what shoppers at Bridgewater Commons were met with during RoboCon New Jersey 2025.
[Stevie Pae] Today is RoboCon, New Jersey. This is a convention of STEM education. We have representatives from a whole bunch of different competition robotics teams, a few private companies, and just a bunch of community organizations all talking about how we can help our next generation learn how to do STEM stuff better.
Stevie Pae was one of many teachers and mentors accompanying the 24 high school FIRST Robotics teams, who were basically running the whole show.
[Kevin Wright] We have a team of about 140 students. We all work together. It’s not just technical stuff, you know—we have our build, we have our electronics, we have our programming, we have our design team. And obviously we'll learn a lot of very valuable skills from that. But there's also a lot of, you know, marketing involved with it, fundraising, awards. We need a lot of money. It’s a $40,000 a year business.
Michael and Kevin are two seniors from Union County Magnet High School. Both 17-year-olds say they’re future mechanical engineers.
[Michael Sisoev] FIRST Robotics, it opened up to like how much problem solving there actually is in mechanical engineering. And it also showed me how much I love that problem solving.
[Kevin Wright] FIRST Robotics competition is really what cemented my love of engineering. And it made me really certain that I wanted to go into mechanical.
While the high school teams were battling it out with their robots in the middle of the mall, Kevin and Michael took ASME on a tour of RoboCon, introducing a “passport” to STEAM.
The guide sent kids and adults to different locations throughout the shopping center, like Investigation Island, Discovery Dome, Robot Driving, and more. Shoppers were completing the side quests and collecting stamps toward a prize, all while learning about robotics and STEM.
[Alex Giardina] Our entire goal as first robotics teams is to kind of spread awareness of STEM and engineering and the program to the community. So, this was an outrageously public way to do it.
For more videos from ASME, visit our official ASME YouTube channel.
Sarah Alburakeh is strategic content editor.
That—and a robot rumble competition—is what shoppers at Bridgewater Commons were met with during RoboCon New Jersey 2025.
[Stevie Pae] Today is RoboCon, New Jersey. This is a convention of STEM education. We have representatives from a whole bunch of different competition robotics teams, a few private companies, and just a bunch of community organizations all talking about how we can help our next generation learn how to do STEM stuff better.
Stevie Pae was one of many teachers and mentors accompanying the 24 high school FIRST Robotics teams, who were basically running the whole show.
Read the full story on RoboCon
Organized by local FIRST Robotics teams, the event turned a retail center into a hands-on celebration of engineering.
[Kevin Wright] We have a team of about 140 students. We all work together. It’s not just technical stuff, you know—we have our build, we have our electronics, we have our programming, we have our design team. And obviously we'll learn a lot of very valuable skills from that. But there's also a lot of, you know, marketing involved with it, fundraising, awards. We need a lot of money. It’s a $40,000 a year business.
Michael and Kevin are two seniors from Union County Magnet High School. Both 17-year-olds say they’re future mechanical engineers.
[Michael Sisoev] FIRST Robotics, it opened up to like how much problem solving there actually is in mechanical engineering. And it also showed me how much I love that problem solving.
[Kevin Wright] FIRST Robotics competition is really what cemented my love of engineering. And it made me really certain that I wanted to go into mechanical.
While the high school teams were battling it out with their robots in the middle of the mall, Kevin and Michael took ASME on a tour of RoboCon, introducing a “passport” to STEAM.
The guide sent kids and adults to different locations throughout the shopping center, like Investigation Island, Discovery Dome, Robot Driving, and more. Shoppers were completing the side quests and collecting stamps toward a prize, all while learning about robotics and STEM.
[Alex Giardina] Our entire goal as first robotics teams is to kind of spread awareness of STEM and engineering and the program to the community. So, this was an outrageously public way to do it.
For more videos from ASME, visit our official ASME YouTube channel.
Sarah Alburakeh is strategic content editor.
The next generation of mechanical engineers turned a mall into a robot arena. Watch ASME’s RoboCon tour highlights.
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