So You Want To Be A Robot Builder (Robotics Engineer) - So You Want To Be A..., #11

WINNER — 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Award (1st Place), STEM

RECIPIENT of the Mom's Choice Award® Gold — Honoring Excellence

FINALIST — 2026 Literary Global Children's Book Awards (Educational and Nonfiction Categories)

From the So You Want To Be A… Series — 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, Grand Prize Winner

What if the career you were born for hasn't even been fully invented yet? Robotics engineering is one of the fastest-growing STEM fields in the world, and the people shaping it are equal parts scientist, coder, inventor, and creative problem solver. This book shows kids exactly what that work looks like — no sugar coating, no science fiction, just the real thing.

So You Want To Be A Robot Builder brings young readers ages 10 to 14 inside the daily life of robotics engineers: the mechanical systems they design, the code they write, the artificial intelligence they build into machines so robots can sense, learn, and adapt. It's a career where computer science meets hands-on engineering, where you might spend your morning debugging software and your afternoon testing a prototype that finally — finally — walks across a room without falling over. Every page is packed with facts, real-world detail, and the kind of specific information that makes this profession feel vivid and reachable.

Kids will discover how robots actually get built, from the earliest design sketches to field testing in unpredictable real-world environments. They'll learn why robotics demands teamwork across disciplines — mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software development, and AI — and how each specialist contributes something essential. They'll explore the history of robotics, meet the visionary builders whose machines changed everything we thought technology could do, and understand why today's robots are more capable and more surprising than ever before.

This is also a book about what it takes. The patience to start over when a prototype fails. The analytical thinking to diagnose problems you've never seen before. The creative tenacity to keep building something that has never existed. For kids who love science and coding, who get excited by engineering challenges, or who spend their free time figuring out how things work, this is the kind of career guide that doesn't talk down — it brings you all the way in.

Inside, young readers will find activities and ideas that encourage them to think like real engineers: observe, question, experiment, build, and iterate. Whether your child already dreams of building robots or is just beginning to explore STEM careers, this illustrated nonfiction guide offers an honest, engaging, and genuinely illuminating look at one of the most exciting professions of our time.

The robots that will change the world are still waiting to be built. All they need is someone with the curiosity and vision to create them.

Ages 10-14. Illustrated nonfiction. Science, engineering, and careers for kids who want to build the future.