Brick by Brick: bringing AI to the classroom

Created in July 23, 2026

2026

The lab joined Purdue’s College of Science and LEGO Education for Brick by Brick, a hands-on workshop in the Shively Club at Ross-Ade Stadium that brought together over 60 STEM educators from across Indiana to learn how to teach coding, robotics, and AI in their classrooms. Each teacher went home with three LEGO Education Computer Science and AI kits to use with their students.

Zak gave a talk on robotics, AI, and how exposure to robotics can change the future paths available to kids. The lab brought their Franka FR3 manipulator and YAM arms to the floor so the educators could see and interact with them up close. Kevin, Sai, Yitian, Andy, and Kaivalya ran the demos: a bimanual teleoperation setup for picking up and handing off blocks, and an arm that teachers could interrupt as it moved back and forth.

You can read more about the event from Purdue News and WLFI.

Zak giving his talk.
The bimanual arms manipulating blocks on the demo floor.
The team demoing the robots to the educators.
The CoMMA Lab crew who made it happen.