Client Context
Our client, a provider of hands-on learning tools for STEM and career and technical education (CTE) programs, sought to evaluate how robotics solutions are being deployed to prepare students for future workforce needs. With growing demand for skills in automation, mechatronics, and engineering support, robotics has become a core tool in bridging the gap between classroom instruction and real-world employability.
The client needed to understand regional variations in adoption, the institutional goals driving investment, and how robotics was being positioned in workforce pipelines across secondary and postsecondary education.
Our Approach
We structured the research into three key modules:
Market Readiness Assessment: We evaluated and scored 10 regions based on CTE funding, workforce-aligned curriculum adoption, and policy support for skills-based training. This allowed us to identify where robotics was most actively being used to address labor market gaps.
Instructional Goals and Use Case Mapping: Through interviews with educators, program coordinators, and workforce stakeholders, we documented how robotics was used to teach job-relevant skills, including systems thinking, coding, collaborative problem-solving, and applied mechanical reasoning.
Strategic Partner and Channel Landscape: We analyzed which workforce boards, industry training programs, and technical colleges were integrating robotics into their upskilling initiatives. We also identified partnership and grant opportunities aligned with public-private workforce development initiatives.
Impact
Our findings gave the client a clear path to position their robotics solutions as tools for real-world skill development:
- CTE programs are using robotics to align with employer needs: Especially in fields such as advanced manufacturing, logistics, and automated systems maintenance. Educators emphasized that robotics offered students a hands-on bridge to understanding Industry 4.0 environments.
- U.S. regions with strong workforce funding emerged as top opportunities: States and districts with Perkins V funding, workforce innovation boards, and community college-industry partnerships showed high demand for scalable robotics platforms.
- Robotics is seen as a differentiator for employability: Employers and educators noted that students with experience in robotics-based learning environments were better prepared for entry-level technical roles and postsecondary training.
- Barriers included time, teacher training, and lack of alignment: Programs struggled when robotics felt disconnected from career outcomes. Curricula that explicitly aligned robotics activities with job pathways saw stronger buy-in and funding support.
- Industry partnerships create scale: We identified multiple cases where local employers co-funded or co-designed robotics training programs with schools, creating direct pipelines into internships and job placement.
Armed with these insights, the client was able to reframe their product strategy to better support workforce development goals. This included aligning robotics kits with national skills frameworks, offering job-aligned lesson plans, and strengthening their position as a partner to schools, technical colleges, and employers preparing students for tomorrow’s careers.
