Why It Matters
Connecticut is confronting a persistent shortage of skilled manufacturing workers, and state officials are betting that early exposure to robotics and engineering can help close the gap. With a $6 million commitment to statewide robotics programming since 2024, the state is positioning youth education as a long-term answer to one of its most pressing economic challenges.
What’s Happening
At Enfield High School, a robotics program that has been running since 1996 offers a glimpse of what state officials hope to replicate across Connecticut. The school’s team, Buzz Robotics — formally designated as FRC Team 175 — competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition, an international high school league in which student teams design and build industrial-scale robots to compete in themed contests each spring.
The team held a practice session at the Enfield Town Annex in April, where students like junior Addison Szczesiul put in hands-on work. Szczesiul, who joined Buzz Robotics as a freshman, serves as the team’s electrical lead and also coaches robot operators during competition matches. She is aiming to pursue a degree in electrical engineering — exactly the kind of career path state officials say they need young people to consider.
The FIRST Robotics Competition draws thousands of student teams from around the world. Connecticut’s participation in that network stretches back decades, but the state is now channeling new public resources into expanding robotics access beyond established programs like Enfield’s.
The State’s Role
The Connecticut Office of Manufacturing, a division of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, has emerged as a new institutional backer of robotics education investments. Director Michelle Hall has been direct about the rationale behind the spending. “We desperately need a steady pipeline of people that are interested in engineering,” she said.
Hall and her office view robotics programs not merely as extracurricular enrichment but as a structured on-ramp to manufacturing careers. Programs supported through these efforts reach students as young as five years old, introducing concepts in engineering, software programming, and design at early stages of development.
By the Numbers
$6 million — state investment in statewide robotics programming since 2024
1996 — year Enfield High School’s Buzz Robotics program was founded
5 — minimum age of students participating in Connecticut youth robotics programs
Thousands — number of student teams competing globally in the FIRST Robotics Competition each spring
Zoom Out
Connecticut’s workforce challenge reflects a national pattern. Manufacturing employers across the country have struggled to attract younger workers with technical skills, even as domestic production has gained renewed attention as a policy priority. States have increasingly turned to school-based programs — robotics competitions, vocational pathways, and engineering curricula — to build the pipeline that industry says it lacks.
Connecticut’s investment comes as the state also grapples with broader cost-of-living pressures that affect both workers and businesses. Fuel taxes remain a point of contention for Connecticut residents, and economic conditions continue to shape how the state prioritizes its development spending.
The FIRST Robotics Competition model, which has expanded steadily since its founding in the early 1990s, is widely credited with sparking engineering interest among students who might not otherwise encounter hands-on technical work before college or the workforce.
What’s Next
The Connecticut Office of Manufacturing is expected to continue directing resources toward robotics programming as part of a broader workforce development strategy. Whether the $6 million in state funding yields measurable gains in manufacturing employment will likely take years to assess, given that many of today’s program participants are still years away from entering the labor market.
For students like Szczesiul, the program is already shaping career ambitions. State officials are counting on many more students following a similar path — from after-school robotics practice to careers filling the engineering and technical roles Connecticut’s manufacturers say they urgently need.