Corporate Family
Robotics Day
Three hours. One robot car per family. Your people leave with their kids — and something they built together.
Employees and their children pair up as pit crews and build a real Arduino robot car: chassis, wiring, code, and an obstacle-avoidance time-trial to finish. Every crew keeps the car.
From R 1 595,00 ex-VAT per crew, kit included — quoted and invoiced to the company.
Why it works
The attendance problem with wellness days is that they cost employees a Saturday and give nothing back to the household. This one gives the household the reason to come.
- Family inclusion, on company time. The complaint behind most burnout is work encroaching on home. This gives some of it back, concretely: three hours where an employee’s child is the point, paid for by the employer.
- Deliberate competence inversion. The child instructs the parent. Colleagues watch each other be beginners in public — a psychological-safety rep disguised as play, and a muscle most teams never train.
- Screen-positive, phone-negative. Children get three hours of high-agency screen time with a purpose. Adults get three hours without a phone. Both are unusual, and people notice.
- A takeaway that keeps working. The car sits on a kitchen table for months. The conversation carries on at home long after a ropes course would have been forgotten.
- Measurable, if you want it measured. An optional anonymous three-question pulse before and after — belonging, stress, would-recommend — plus a photo pack. That is the evidence that gets next year’s budget approved.
And plainly, what it isn’t:
- Not a ropes course.
- Not trust falls.
- Not a talk.
Everyone builds the same thing at the same time, and every crew finishes with a working car. Nobody is put on the spot, and nobody sits out.
3 hours, minute by minute
These are the timings we actually run. Facilitators keep the room on them, so whatever you have planned around the event still holds.
- 0:00Pit lane0:00–0:20Arrival and coffee. Crews are named and badged, and role cards — Builder, Wiring Chief, Coder, Race Engineer — are dealt so the child holds at least one technical card. Phones go in the box on the table.
- 0:20Meet your machine0:20–0:45Unbox the kit: chassis, motors, wheels. The child follows the illustrated build card and instructs the adult; the adult supplies torque and patience. First shared "it’s a thing now" moment.
- 0:45Wiring Chief0:45–1:15Motor driver, battery pack, controller board, on a colour-coded harness that is deliberately hard to get wrong. Payoff: the wheels spin. Loudest ninety seconds of the day.
- 1:15Pit stop1:15–1:30Snack and water, plus a facilitated ten-minute reset: four minutes of breathing and stretching, six minutes of "swap one thing you learned from your kid" with the crew next to you. Framed as what engineers do between builds.
- 1:30Make it think1:30–2:10Upload the code. Forward, turn, then the ultrasonic sensor: the car stops before it hits something. The child drives the laptop while the adult reads the brief aloud — a deliberate competence inversion, and the part people talk about afterwards.
- 2:10The Last Mile2:10–2:40A taped time-trial course: deliver a payload through the maze without collisions. Two runs with a re-tune window between them, so the lesson is iterate, not win. Points for completion, cleanliness, and one judged "best team fix".
- 2:40Podium2:40–3:00Winners, a "Best Comeback" award for the crew whose car died and came back, the group photo, and cars boxed. Everyone leaves holding something.
One car, one family
- A pit crew is one or two employees plus one or two of their children — up to 4 people included in the crew price.
- Ages 8–14 are the sweet spot. Six- and seven-year-olds are welcome with an adult on the fiddly bits.
- No children of your own? Bring a niece, nephew or godchild, or pair up with a colleague as a two-adult crew.
- A fifth person on a crew is R 180,00 ex-VAT — a seat, catering, a workbook and a badge.
Never fewer than 2 on site. From 12 crews we add a floating tech lead — the person who owns the spare motors, the hot-glue gun and everyone’s dead battery. We publish the ratio because it is the whole difference between a workshop and a room full of stuck people.
What you get
- One Arduino robot car kit per crew — wiring, motors, controller and an ultrasonic sensor — which the family keeps.
- 3 hours of facilitation at one facilitator per 6 crews, never fewer than 2 on site.
- A floating tech lead from 12 crews up — the person who owns the spare motors, the hot-glue gun and everyone’s dead battery.
- Laptops with the toolchain pre-installed, so nobody spends the first hour on drivers.
- The taped time-trial course, role cards, illustrated build cards and printed briefs.
- A "5 things to build next" card with a QR to online step-by-steps.
- The podium photo pack, delivered within 48 hours.
Where it runs
At your offices
Nationwide. We bring tables, power boards, laptops, spares, floor tape and the course.
Needs roughly 2 m² per crew on a hard floor. Setup fee of R 2 500,00 ex-VAT, plus travel beyond 30 km of Century City.
At Sheen Academy
Our teaching centre at Unit C4, Century Square, Century City, Cape Town.
No setup fee and no travel. Capacity-capped, so weekend dates book out first.
A conference venue
Already booked a venue for your family day? We slot in as one of the activities.
You book the room; we quote setup and travel to it.
Per crew, kit included
A crew is up to 4 people and one Arduino robot car they keep. Prices are ex-VAT and quoted to the company — no employee is ever asked for a card.
8–11 crews
R 1 950,00
per crew, ex-VAT
3 hours of facilitation, all materials, one Arduino robot car per crew to take home, and the photo pack.
12–19 crews
R 1 750,00
per crew, ex-VAT
3 hours of facilitation, all materials, one Arduino robot car per crew to take home, and the photo pack.
20+ crews
R 1 595,00
per crew, ex-VAT
3 hours of facilitation, all materials, one Arduino robot car per crew to take home, and the photo pack.
Add-ons
- Event photographerA shooter for the full three hours; edited pack delivered within 48 hours.R 3 500,00per event
- Branded chassis decalsYour logo cut and applied to every car, so the takeaway carries the brand home.R 120,00per crew
- Engraved winners’ trophyA real trophy for the winning crew, laser-engraved in our own workshop.R 950,00per event
- Wellness pulse + reportAnonymous 3-question pulse before and after, with a one-page summary for HR.R 1 800,00per event
What else moves the number
- Extra people — R 180,00 for a fifth or further person on a crew. Covers a seat, catering, a workbook and a badge.
- On-site setup — R 2 500,00 when we come to you, per session. Nothing when you run it at our Century City campus.
- Travel — free within 30 km of Century City, then R 12,00 per km on the round trip.
- Group size — from 8 crews. Above 25 we split the day into two sessions rather than crowd the room, which adds a second setup.
All prices exclude VAT at 15%, shown as a separate line on your quote and invoice. Payment is by EFT against a VAT invoice. Purchase orders and vendor onboarding forms are no problem — mention it on the enquiry.
Tell us about your day
Two minutes. You’ll see an indicative total as you type, and a formal quote with a pro-forma invoice follows within one working day.
Questions HR asks first
Q: How long does it take, and what actually happens?
3 hours, start to finish: 0:00–0:20 Pit lane · 0:20–0:45 Meet your machine · 0:45–1:15 Wiring Chief · 1:15–1:30 Pit stop · 1:30–2:10 Make it think · 2:10–2:40 The Last Mile · 2:40–3:00 Podium. Every crew leaves with a working robot car.
Q: What is the minimum group size?
8 crews — roughly 16 to 32 people. Below that we can't cover a facilitator team and travel, but email us and we'll work something out. We cap a single session at 25 crews and split bigger groups across two sessions rather than crowd the room.
Q: What does it cost?
Per crew, ex-VAT, with the kit included and taken home: R 1 950,00 for 8–11 crews, R 1 750,00 for 12–19 crews, R 1 595,00 for 20+ crews. Send the enquiry form and you'll get an indicative total immediately, then a formal quote and pro-forma invoice within one working day.
Q: Do we need any technical background?
None. The build cards are illustrated, the harness is colour-coded, and the code is written for you to modify rather than type from scratch. The whole design assumes nobody in the room has done this before — that is the point.
Q: Does the robot car really go home?
Yes — boxed, batteries in, code loaded, one per crew. The kit cost is inside the per-crew price. It is an Arduino-compatible car, so it keeps working with the free step-by-steps we send with it.
Q: Can you come to our offices?
Yes, nationwide. We bring everything including laptops; you provide a room with about 2 m² per crew and a hard floor. On-site setup is R 2 500,00 ex-VAT and travel is free within 30 km of Century City. Or run it at our Century City campus with no setup fee at all.
Q: How do we pay?
As a company purchase: we issue a formal quote, then a VAT invoice, and you pay by EFT. No employee is asked for a card. If your finance team needs a purchase-order number or vendor forms, say so on the enquiry and we’ll work to your process.
Q: Can we brand it?
Your logo cut and applied to every car, so the takeaway carries the brand home. We can also add Event photographer, an Engraved winners’ trophy, and the Wellness pulse + report — tick them on the enquiry form and they'll appear in your estimate.
Q: What if a child is too young or a parent has to leave early?
Crews absorb it. A facilitator steps into an empty seat, and no crew is ever left unable to finish its car. Every crew goes home with a working robot, which is a promise rather than a hope.
Prefer to talk it through? Email academy@sheen.co.za or call +27 65 900 8570.
Arduino® is a trademark of Arduino SA, which does not sponsor or endorse Sheen Academy. Kits supplied are Arduino-compatible.