February 2026
Translating Robotics Team Skills and Knowledge into Repairing for the Community
Anna Williams
Hazel Lutzker
When The Culture of Repair Project proposed that we participate in the school district’s Fix-it Fests, we weren't sure how useful we would be. After all, we were just a high school robotics team that builds competition robots, not a group that fixes household appliances. We are used to designing drive systems and writing code, not figuring out how to repair someone's broken suitcase wheel. But it turns out that in participating in Fix-it Fests, we’ve translated our skills, directly helping our community, fighting climate change, and ultimately, combating the over-reliance on consumerism.
BERKELIUM, Berkeley High School's Robotics Team, has been participating in FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) for over a decade. Our team consists of over 100 members across all grade levels, and in 2023, we qualified for the FRC World Championships in Houston.
When we formed a partnership with The Culture of Repair Project, we saw an opportunity to step outside our usual competition programs and practices and apply our skills in different ways. We could take what we know about how systems and appliances work, and use those skills to keep items out of landfills, while emphasizing a culture of sustainability.
Fix-It Fests bring together volunteer repair coaches and hosts from organizations like Transition Berkeley, Nimble Repair, and The Culture of Repair Project, as well as teachers, middle schoolers, school administrators, and Berkeley High students. The Robotics Team participated in our first Fix-it Fest in February 2025. In October 2025, we volunteered at a Fix-it Fest at Willard Middle School, where our team members helped fix around 20 broken items, ranging from kitchen appliances to electronics.
We were surprised by how directly our robotics skills translated to repair. In competition, we constantly troubleshoot - motors stop responding, code randomly doesn’t work, or pieces suddenly break. We’re trained to diagnose problems and fix them fast. That exact approach works for a toaster that overheats or a broken computer mouse.
Berkelium students proudly posing with a camera lens they helped repair. Willard Fix-it Fest 2025
Beyond specific techniques, robotics has taught us the most important thing: stuff is fixable. When our competition robot breaks at an event, we can't throw it away or start over. We have to fix it. That mindset - that repair is necessary and possible - is exactly what Fix-it Fests cultivate in a society conditioned to replace broken things.
Americans have normalized tossing broken out items, but California's Right to Repair law (effective July 2024) is starting to change that by requiring manufacturers to make repair documentation, parts, and tools available. Still, changing laws isn't enough if people don't believe repair is possible.
Two Berkelium team members working on a participant’s broken object. Willard Middle School Fix-it Fest 2025
At Fix-It Fests, we demonstrate a relationship with our belongings that’s needed now more urgently than ever. We're showing that appliances can be taken apart, understood, and most often, fixed.
Our skills have been deepened through working with professionals in engineering fields who volunteer with Transition Berkeley, and with Fixit Clinic. They've taught us that repair isn't just technical - it's patience, creativity, and a deeper understanding of mechanical systems that will help us in both our personal and professional lives.
Carlos Reyes Johns repaired sweater circuitry. Longfellow Middle School Fix-it Fest 2025
The energy is palpable at Fix-it Fests. When a repair succeeds, item owners and repair coaches ring bells, cheer, and take pictures with the newly repaired item. Community members realize that the broken items they'd almost decided to throw away can live another day, or maybe many more. The Robotics Club is excited to add to that Fix-it Fest energy!
Our society's consumerism practices are being replaced, one repair at a time, by a culture that values fixing, learning, and social unity. Joining this work connects the Robotics Team to something bigger than competition. When we help fix a toaster, we're using what we know to serve the community, and to participate in a movement to restore the right to repair, reduce waste, and build a culture that values taking care of the things we have.
Repair Culture in Berkeley
Hot Off the Press!
Check out the two-page spread by Hazel and Anna in the Berkeley Jacket
Note from Vita, founder of The Culture of Repair Project:
I toured Berkelium’s workshop, met with their team, and have coordinated Fix-it Fest participation with team members over two years — I have never been as impressed by a group of high school students and their program.
Because they are not only focused on excellence in competition, but are also intentional and energetic about making robotics available to all students, and because they are a public school program, successful fundraising is critical. I encourage everyone to consider supporting this outstanding program.
Sponsoring Berkelium means investing in the next generation of innovators and making STEM education accessible in Berkeley. As a student-run robotics team fiscally sponsored by BARESA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, our goal is to keep participation free for any student who needs it to be, with no student left behind. That’s why we depend on community partners like you. Your support gives students hands-on experience in engineering, programming, and design, and expands access through programs like our Middle School Robotics Camp and elementary school presentations, creating life-changing opportunities and a stronger community.
Berkelium’s support page is HERE.
Berkelium Robotics Competition, photo credit Sunny Bevis-Lipton
Anna Williams
Anna Williams is a junior at Berkeley High School, where she serves as an Outreach Jr. Lead and Design Member of Berkelium, the BHS Robotics Team. She is passionate about public service through volunteering, including teaching kids with disabilities how to ski, and plays soccer. Anna plans to major in engineering in college.
Hazel Lutzker
Hazel Lutzker is a sophomore at Berkeley High School and Business Jr. Lead of Berkelium, the BHS Robotics Team. She volunteers at her former preschool and plays multiple instruments. Hazel plans to explore STEM fields in the future, with a particular interest in math.
Both are reporters for The Berkeley High Jacket and were drawn to Fix-It Fests through their involvement in robotics and their shared commitment to community service, sustainability, and encouraging others to embrace repair culture.