People will often tell you that if you want to see change in the world, you have to fight for it. After all, many of history's most meaningful developments were driven by people who refused to stay silent. However, for most people, getting their voice heard among thousands, or even millions, of others fighting for what they believe in can feel nearly impossible. That's where advocating to people with influence becomes so important. If you can get someone with the power to create change to truly understand and support your cause, it can accomplish far more than you could on your own.

In our case, we realized that this concept was especially true as we continued working toward our ultimate goal of expanding access to STEM, this time focusing on countries without robotics programs.

🏛️ Our Trip to Washington D.C.

One of our main goals at STEM for Tomorrow was to expand access to STEM in countries around the world. During our lengthy research process, we came across a few countries that didn't have a single FIRST Robotics team, and we knew that there were people in those countries who would love to experience the wide range of STEM fields that robotics brings together.

We desperately wanted to do something to help these countries and any passionate students residing there, but we didn't even know where to start.

However, on a trip to Washington D.C. for the Junior World Affairs Council chapter at our school, we lucked out and were able to visit the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, which just so happened to be one of the countries we had in mind without any FIRST Robotics teams.

Outside the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates

In a time crunch, we quickly realized that if we wanted to champion the emergence of FIRST Robotics in the UAE, this was the time to do so. We knew this might be the best opportunity we would get in moving toward that goal. Luckily, because of the nature of this opportunity, we even got to speak to the UAE Ambassador, His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba.

In the few minutes we had with the ambassador, we made sure to fit in every detail we could about what we hoped to accomplish. We explained our vision as clearly as possible, knowing we might never get another opportunity like this. When we finished speaking, all we could do was wait and hope that something we said would bring us even one step closer to making robotics accessible in the UAE.

We had expected him, as a busy man, to acknowledge us and wish us the best in our journey as he moved along with his day. Instead, the ambassador took a genuine interest in what we told him. He was fascinated by the opportunity to expand STEM education in the UAE. He told us about an organization called Unique World Robotics, whose mission is to empower students for the future through hands-on robotics, engineering, AI, and competitive STEM programs.

Despite speaking with the ambassador for only a few minutes, the conversation turned out to be far more impactful than we ever expected. He connected us with Mr. Mohammed Mukhtar, Chief Operating Officer of Unique World Robotics and the FIRST program delivery partner in the UAE.

That single introduction would become the first major step toward bringing competitive robotics to the country.

🤝 Working with Unique World Robotics

Once we got into contact with Mr. Mukhtar, it was all hands on deck. Some of our members collaborated with him and discussed ideas, while others began figuring out how to start the process of creating FIRST teams in the UAE. Many of us focused on the central challenge: finding students and mentors who were interested in getting involved with robotics.

We knew that there would be many people who would end up enjoying robotics once it was widely introduced in the UAE, but how could we convince people to take part in robotics when they didn't know much about it?

With help from Unique World Robotics, we brainstormed how to successfully find enough people to start multiple FIRST Tech Challenge teams in the country, increasing the UAE's involvement and education in STEM.

A letter of appreciation from Unique World Robotics

Eventually, we began to expand our goal even further. Before we had even started our first FIRST team in the country, we began thinking beyond our initial goal. We started to solidify a broader vision: creating an entire FIRST region in the UAE.

How a trip to Washington, D.C. led to a FIRST region in the UAE

By starting a region in the country, there would be enough teams for students to compete against one another, gain valuable experience, and potentially advance to the FTC Championship, premier FIRST events, and the FIRST Global Challenge.

✨ Conclusion

So now, with our end goal visualized, we turned up the speed on our work and continued pushing forward. We wanted to split up this journey into two posts to highlight the importance of both stages: building the connections that made this opportunity possible and turning that vision into reality.

One thing this experience taught us was the importance of collaboration. Before our trip to Washington D.C., bringing FIRST Robotics to the UAE felt like an ambitious idea with no clear starting point. A single conversation with Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba led us to Unique World Robotics and gave us the opportunity to turn that idea into something we could finally begin working toward.

These partnerships laid the foundation for everything that followed. In part two, we will share how this collaboration evolved into the creation of a FIRST region in the UAE, the challenges we faced along the way, and the impact robotics has begun to make across the country.