15 Robotics Programs for High School Students
If you’re a high school student interested in robotics, a program can be a worthwhile way to explore the field. Robotics programs for high school students allow you to learn core engineering and programming skills through projects, peer collaboration, and guidance from industry professionals. These programs introduce key concepts such as AI, automation, and control engineering while helping you develop problem-solving and critical reasoning skills
Why should I participate in a robotics program in high school?
Many leading colleges and organizations offer robotics programs for high school students. Depending on the program, you can work on language-processing systems, program and operate drones, and explore multi-agent systems. You can work in research labs, learn from faculty experts, and connect with professionals. If you’re applying to top colleges, a robotics program can strengthen your applications by showing achievements outside of school.
To help you get started, we’ve put together 15 robotics programs for high school students. Note: Some of the programs in the list aren’t solely related to robotics. They cover broader STEM topics and related fields, such as AI, to help you develop relevant skills.
1. MITES Summer
Location: MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Fairly selective
Dates: June 15 - July 26 (tentative, based on past years)
Application Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Students in 11th grade in any school setting (public, private, or homeschool); must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents
MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science(MITES) Summer is a six-week, residential program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for rising high school seniors from underserved backgrounds. The curriculum includes courses in mathematics, physics, life sciences, and humanities, along with electives such as engineering design, genomics, or machine learning. Beyond classroom sessions, you will attend STEM seminars, tour MIT labs, and experience campus life. You will work on a project with MIT undergraduate students and present your findings at the closing symposium.
2. Ladder Internships
Location: Remote (work from anywhere in the world)
Cost/Stipend: Varies depending on program type; full financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter
Application Deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort – Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November)
Eligibility: High school students, undergraduates, and gap year students who can work for 8 - 12 weeks, devoting 10 - 20 hours/week.
Ladder Internships is a selective program that places motivated high school students in internships with high-growth start-ups. Start-ups that offer internships span across a variety of industries, from tech/deep tech to AI/ML, health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. Most start-ups have secured significant funding of over a million dollars and operate in fast-paced environments. Interns work closely with their manager on real-world projects and present their work to the company. Internships are fully virtual and typically run for eight weeks. Apply now!
3. MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free for families with an income under $150,000; $2,350 otherwise
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive
Dates: July 6 - August 2
Application Deadline: March 30
Eligibility: U.S. high school students (freshmen, sophomores, and juniors) residing in the U.S. during the program
The MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) is a highly selective, four-week summer STEM program for rising high school seniors. The program includes several project-based courses in AI, radar systems, and satellites to help you develop advanced STEM skills in a workshop-style environment. In the autonomous air vehicle racing course, for example, you’ll build and debug code using robotics software and simulation, and participate in racing challenges to test your unmanned aerial vehicles.
4. Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: Varies depending on program type; full financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment
Dates: Multiple 12 - 15-week cohorts throughout the year, including spring, summer, fall, and winter
Application Deadline: Rolling; Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November); you can apply to the program here
Eligibility: High school students; AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI scholars program or exhibit experience with AI concepts or Python
Veritas AI, founded by Harvard graduate students, offers AI programs for high school students who are passionate about artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. The AI Scholars program is a 10-session boot camp, where students are introduced to the fundamentals of AI & data science and have the opportunity to work on real-world projects.
For advanced students, the AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase provides one-on-one mentorship from researchers at top universities. Students will have access to the in-house publication team to help them provide support in high school research journals. You can also check out some examples of past projects here and read about a student’s experience in the program here.
5. NYU’s Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering (ARISE)
Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY
Cost/Stipend: No cost with a stipend of $1,000
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: June 1 - August 14
Application Deadline: February 21
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors who are residents of NYC attending NYC schools
The Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering (ARISE) is a ten-week research program for high school students hosted by NYU Tandon School of Engineering. The first four weeks focus on orientation sessions to introduce the theoretical and practical fundamentals of research. For the next six weeks, you will assist NYU Tandon faculty and researchers in live projects in areas such as computer science, engineering, and automation. You will present your research project at the end-of-program poster symposium.
6. Northeastern University’s Young Scholars Program
Location: Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Stipend: Stipend may be available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Fairly selective
Dates: June 22 - July 30
Application Deadline: March 2
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors from Massachusetts with at least an unweighted GPA of 3.5
The Young Scholars Program is a six-week summer research experience at Northeastern University for rising high school seniors in Massachusetts. As a participant, you will join Northeastern faculty and students in ongoing research at the university. You’ll work directly in research labs across areas such as robotics or engineering. Past projects include accelerating language-processing systems in computer engineering. In addition to lab work, you will attend seminars led by guest faculty, visit companies such as Biogen and Akamai, and participate in counseling sessions. You can find past projects in YSP research here.
7. MIT Research Science Institute (RSI)
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: June 28 - August 8
Application Deadline: December 10
Eligibility: High school juniors, including international students
The Research Science Institute is a highly competitive, six-week program for high school students hosted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You’ll begin with a week of advanced STEM seminars, and work with a graduate student mentor on the individual research project for the remaining five weeks. During the program, you will design an independent research plan from scratch and present the findings through a written paper and a talk at the conclusion of the program. Past projects in robotics include designing zero-knowledge proofs for agent motion planning at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
8. MIT FutureMakers
Location: Virtual
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: July 1 - August 9 (tentative)
Application Deadline: Applications are expected to open in February/March
Eligibility: High school students in the U.S. and Puerto Rico
MIT FutureMakers is a six-week program for high school students interested in AI and digital design. You’ll begin with four weeks of cohort-based training followed by a two-week Create-a-thon where you work in a team to design AI solutions for real-life problems. You can choose from four tracks: conversational AI app development, applied deep learning, data activism, or mobile app development (designed for younger participants). You’ll build technical skills and learn responsible AI design by having interactions with college student mentors and industry guest speakers. The program concludes with a pitch competition where winning teams present their projects at the ASU-GSV Summit in San Diego. MIT RAISE runs the program in partnership with SureStart.
9. San Diego State University’s Robotics Camp
Location: San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrolment
Dates: July 14 - 21
Application Deadline: May
Eligibility: High school students
The Robotics Camp at San Diego State University(SDSU) is a week-long program for high school students interested in robotics. You’ll learn about AI and cybersecurity, practice coding with Scratch and Python, assemble and program MBot mega robots, and operate drones. You’ll tour SDSU’s STEM labs, attend guest lectures, and develop practical skills that help you develop practical robotics and programming skills. The camp is hosted by SDSU’s SysteMs & InteLligEnce (SMILE) lab in collaboration with SDSU’s Talent Search.
10. FSU Young Scholars Program
Location: Florida State University campus, Tallahassee, FL
Cost/Stipend: No cost
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: June 7 - July 18
Application Deadline: February 15
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors living in Florida who have finished pre-calculus | Minimum unweighted GPA of 3.0, and a score in the top 90th percentile in standardized math/science exams
Florida State University's Young Scholars Program is a six-week program for high school students interested in STEM. You’ll work two days a week with FSU faculty on a research project and engage in specialized coursework and mentored research in mathematics, science, and computer programming. Course options include quantum computing and game theory, designed to challenge and prepare you for higher-level academic work. The program also features structured extracurricular activities, field trips, and social events.
11. Kode With Klossy Summer Camp
Location: Virtual and in-person in Washington D.C.; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; London; New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; St. Louis, MO
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrolment
Dates: June 2 - 13 | July 7 - 18 | July 21 - August 1 | August 4 - 15
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Women and gender expansive teens who are 13 to 18 years old
The Kode With Klossy Summer Camp is a two-week introductory course focused on software development, machine learning, and programming. You will choose from four tracks: web development, machine learning, data science, or mobile app. In the web development track, you will learn how to work with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to build an online site. The machine learning track covers AI/ML concepts, including algorithms, natural language processing, and datasets. In the data science track, you will explore concepts such as data visualisation. The mobile app track will help you learn how to program in Swift (Apple’s programming language) and develop an iOS mobile application.
12. Stony Brook University - Simons Summer Research Program
Location: On-campus with other student researchers or commuting to Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Cost: Residential: $2,450 (estimated)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: June 29 - August 7
Application Deadline: February 7
Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents currently in 11th grade; must be at least 16 years old by program start
The Simons Summer Research Program is a six-week research opportunity for high school students hosted at Stony Brook University. You will work in laboratories affiliated with national research centers and contribute to applied and computational math projects under the guidance of Stony Brook University faculty. As a participant, you will begin with a review of suggested pre-readings and a mandatory lab safety session in the first week. You are expected to commit four hours per day to research and to submit a formal abstract and a poster presentation at the end of the program. You can check past research projects here.
13. George Mason University’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program
Location: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA (remote or in-person)
Cost/Stipend: $1,299 plus $25 application fee (three college course credits provided)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 18 - August 12
Application Deadline: February 15
Eligibility: Students who are at least 15 years old (or 16 years old for wet lab internships)
The Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program at George Mason University is an eight-week research experience for high school students. You’ll work one-on-one with faculty researchers in computational and data science, explore potential careers through group discussions, and develop scientific writing and communication skills. You can opt for an in-person, remote, or hybrid internship, depending on your mentor’s availability. Past student work includes a project titled “Learning Agent-Based Modeling Through Virtual Reality-Based Simulations” at the College of Science’s Department of Computational and Data Sciences.
14. California State Summer School for Mathematics & Science
Location: UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego, or UC Santa Cruz, CA
Cost/Stipend: $5,518 plus $46 application fee; need-based financial aid is available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive
Dates: July 5 - 31 (UCI, UCSD) and August 1 (UCD, UCLA, UCM, UCSC)
Application Deadline: February 6
Eligibility: California high school students entering grades 9 - 12
The California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science is a four-week residential program at the University of California for high schoolers interested in careers in STEM. Students participate in lab work, field-based research, and structured coursework guided by UC faculty, researchers, and scientists. You can choose which campus to apply to, as each campus offers its specialized STEM cluster based on faculty and research strengths. For example, AI and ML clusters include “Brain-Inspired Computing” at UCLA, “Machine Learning: Can We Teach a Computer to Think?” at UCSD, and “Decoding the Universe: Physics, Big Data, and Computation” at UC Irvine.
15. Stanford AI4ALL
Location: Virtual
Cost: $4,000; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 18 - July 2 (tentative, based on previous years)
Application Deadline: January 24 (tentative, based on previous years)
Eligibility: 9th graders or rising 10th graders who are over 14 years of age when the program begins
Stanford AI4ALL is a two-week online program offered by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI to expand high school students’ engagement with AI. The program includes an introduction to AI applications through lectures, hands-on research projects, and mentoring activities. You will work with peers to explore topics such as natural language processing, robotics, computer vision, and medical AI. You will also have access to mentorship sessions with Stanford AI Lab professionals, allowing you to participate in ongoing research initiatives at Stanford. You will attend career development workshops and gain insights into the future impact of AI.
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