01
Robotics Cohorts
Seasonal build cohorts — design, wire, and program robots that compete and perform. Challenge-based learning from day one.
Detroit, Michigan
Where Detroit
builds what's next.
Robotics, drones, and automation training for Detroit's young builders — from first circuit to first career.
4Training tracks
0Grants that funded this
1City that builds
The mission
The city that put the world on wheels
trains the kids who'll run the automated world.
Detroit Automation Academy exists for one reason: the young people of this city should be the ones building the automated future, not watching it arrive from somewhere else. We teach robotics, drones, and automation the way Detroit taught the world manufacturing — hands on, no shortcuts, pride in the work.
This academy has never received institutional funding. No grant, no sponsor, no check that was promised. It was built anyway — nights, weekends, borrowed space — and it's being finished on principle. Detroit's kids shouldn't have to wait on paperwork.
Build, don't watch
Every student leaves with something they made move, fly, or think.
No pity, no jargon
We talk to young builders like builders. High bar, plain language.
Detroit first
The talent is here. The training should be too.
Programs
Four tracks. Zero fluff.
02
Drones
Flight fundamentals, safety, and real missions. Students learn the airspace rules and the engineering behind the rotors.
03
Automation & IoT
Sensors, controllers, and the logic that connects them. The same systems thinking that runs modern factories.
04
Apple Code + Create
App design and Swift development for young creators — run with the Michigan Engineering Zone. From idea to working prototype.
The Signal
Notes on automation, robotics, and the Detroiters building the future.
The Signal is the academy's monthly newsletter — game-season analysis, cohort work, and industry notes for builders, parents, and partners. Free to read, built to forward.
It's also how the academy gets funded. Here's the trajectory:
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Phase 01 — Now
Audience
A free monthly newsletter building a loyal readership. Reputation first, revenue later.
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Phase 02 — Next
Sponsorship
Sponsors underwrite the editions. Their brand becomes part of Detroit's builder story.
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Phase 03 — The flywheel
Advisory
Advisory revenue flows straight back into the academy. Every edition funds a student trained.
Subscribe on LinkedIn
Browse the archive
New editions monthly. Latest: BIOBUZZ Is Here — What the New FTC Season Demands.
In good company
Built alongside Detroit's builders.
- Michigan Central
- University of Michigan Center for Innovation
- Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab
- College for Creative Studies
- Michigan Engineering Zone
Support
Fund the finish.
The academy made it this far on nights, weekends, and conviction. Direct support goes to equipment, space, and instructors — the unglamorous line items that turn a program into an institution.
Sponsor a cohort
Underwrite a full season of robotics or drones for a group of Detroit students. Your name on the build, not just the banner.
Donate equipment
Robots, drones, sensors, laptops — working gear goes straight into students' hands.
Mentor & advise
Engineers, founders, and operators: an hour of your time can reroute a career.