R&D Division
Where Plum Crazy Robotics doubles down on excellence.
R&D Division is the most advanced robotics program for students at Plum Crazy Robotics. Industry is shifting. Top engineering companies are increasingly hiring for demonstrated project-based skills — prototyping ability, real engineering experience, portfolio work — over traditional credentials alone. R&D Division is where our advanced students build exactly that.
A limited number of students reach the R&D Unit each year. The technical depth and required coursework make it a serious commitment — and that's why the path is earned through our phases. But the path is there, and it's open to students who put in the work.
Advanced Robotics for Students — The Synthesis Phase
Electronics. Coding. Hardware. AI. Systems integration. Prototyping. Retrofit engineering. By the time a student is invited into R&D, they've moved through Foundation, Engineer, Innovator, Architect, and often Combat League — and the R&D Unit is where all of it comes together on projects the student drives forward, with instructor mentorship instead of lesson plans. This is the most advanced robotics for students that Plum Crazy Robotics offers.
What R&D Unit Students Do
Prototype New Electronics
Designing and building circuits and systems that didn't exist before this project. No kits. No recipes. Real breadboard-to-working-device engineering.
Combine Disciplines
Coding, electronics, AI, mechanical design, and data pipelines — stitched together into working builds. R&D is where all of it lives in one project at once.
Explore Frontier Hardware
Working with platforms that just hit the market, like the Arduino UNO Q, where capabilities are still being mapped by the community. R&D students don't follow tutorials — they write the ones that didn't exist yet.
Retrofit Real Industrial Equipment
Bringing vintage and legacy gear — industrial arms, scientific instruments, control systems — into the modern era. The Architect discipline, applied at a higher level.
Hardware At The Metal
Bit-banging low-level protocols. Reading datasheets. Bending chips to do things the easy libraries won't let you touch. This is what separates someone who uses tech from someone who builds it.
AI As A Research Copilot
Learning to use AI the way real engineers use it — to map unknown problem spaces, cross-reference obscure documentation, and accelerate research. Not to replace thinking. To accelerate it.
Dual-Arm Industrial Robot Chess
Two retrofitted vintage robotic arms — Gregory and his incoming brother — playing chess against each other. Computer vision to see the board. AI move logic. Coordinated arm control. Real-time communication. Every discipline R&D teaches, in one ambitious project. Gregory is already running. The brother is being rebuilt next.
Why We Run Advanced Robotics for Students at Plum Crazy Robotics
Because the students who reach this level aren't looking for worksheets, trophies, or pre-packaged projects. They're looking for real engineering problems to solve. R&D is where we give them those problems — and the equipment, tools, mentorship, and space to solve them. It's the natural end-state of a program that's been teaching advanced robotics for students since 2016.
Every piece of equipment in the R&D Unit is either salvaged from industry, donated, or purchased because we had a specific project in mind. We're always working on something new.
How Students Get Into Our Advanced Robotics Track
Admission is by instructor invitation only. There are no tryouts, no prep classes, and no way to sign up directly. Students earn their invitation through work in our Engineer, Innovator, and Architect programs, and our Combat Robotics League — where instructors watch for the students who ask the harder questions, stay past the end of class, and keep building when the lesson is over.
If that's your child, their instructor will see it.
Questions About R&D Division?
Call Plum Crazy Robotics directly.
☎ (732) 359-4299