This summer, B-EN-G collaborated with SAKURA Tempesta to hold a "Summer Vacation Craft Workshop & Independent Research Project Support Event." The event, held at the B-EN-G Otemachi office, was attended by 27 parent-child pairs, including employees and their families.
B-EN-G has been supporting the organization's activities since October 2024 through a sponsorship agreement, and this initiative is positioned as one of B-EN-G 's activities aimed at realizing its purpose of "increasing the number of creative industries in the world."
Product Business Division, Mr. Arai
Arai, a B-EN-G employee who acted as a bridge between the two companies in planning this crafting event, said about the purpose of the event: "Through my interactions with the people at SAKURA Tempesta, I felt that we wanted to increase opportunities for children to experience manufacturing. We planned this event with the hope that it would be enjoyable for the families of our employees as well, and that it would contribute to activities that nurture the next generation of engineers."
About SAKURA Tempesta
SAKURA Tempesta is a robotics team for junior and senior high school students established in Chiba Prefecture in 2017. Since 2018, they have participated in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC), the world's largest student robotics competition, becoming the first Japanese team to win the Rookie of the Year award and securing the right to participate in the World Championships a record five times, earning high praise both domestically and internationally.
SAKURA Tempesta's activities extend beyond competitions; they also promote exchanges among junior and senior high school robotics teams nationwide and plan and manage workshops in cooperation with sponsoring companies, schools, and local governments, providing STEAM education to over 510 elementary, junior high, and high school students annually.
What happened on the day
Members of SAKURA Tempesta explained their group's activities and robots. Initially, the children were nervous in the unfamiliar environment, but as they listened to the presentations, they began to smile and listened attentively. Some parents were also surprised by the impressive presentations given by the middle and high school students, which were comparable to those of adults.
During the crafting time, participants worked on building electric ball launchers. Members of SAKURA Tempesta went around to each table, providing support during the construction. When participants struggled with attaching small screws, SAKURA Tempesta members lent a hand. Younger participants completed their devices with the help of their parents, while in some families, siblings of different ages divided the work. Some children worked diligently on their projects, wanting to complete them on their own. The children's faces lit up with a sense of accomplishment as they gazed at their completed devices.
A SAKURA Tempesta member who was actually in charge of support said, "We are happy that the participants seemed to enjoy themselves through their interaction with Business Engineering at this event. It was impressive to see the children, who were nervous at first, brighten up as they got closer to completion, and we hope that we were able to convey even a little bit of the fun of making things." After completion, the children tried their hand at target practice using the devices they had made. Some children were able to hit the ball straight and knock down many targets, while others who couldn't hit the ball well were seen having fun by making adjustments on the spot.
Office tour and robot operation experience
During breaks in the event, participants were seen freely touring the office with their families, and there were even instances where they were given tours of floors that are normally off-limits to non-employees. They looked around the work spaces and meeting rooms, stopped by actual workspaces to take commemorative photos, and spent their time as they pleased. Children who toured the company exclaimed, "Dad's company is amazing!" and "I want to work with you when I grow up!" Employee partners also expressed their delight that the children were able to see the environment in which their employees actually work, and it became an opportunity for the children to feel closer to the concept of "work."
After the tour, the children had the opportunity to try operating a competition robot developed by SAKURA Tempesta. Using controllers, the children were able to operate robots that had actually been used in competitions, and they tried tasks such as "picking up balls and putting them into targets" and "moving the arms." There were times when they struggled to make the robots move as they wanted, but the children were seen repeatedly trying again and again, receiving tips on operation from the members.
In the adjacent STEM educational materials experience corner, many children were engrossed in the hands-on activities that allowed them to verify the mechanisms of things, staying busy until the very end. There were also scenes of children playing and thinking together with their parents. Through these experiences, the venue was filled with the voices of children.
Future initiatives
Matsuoka from B-EN-G's Sustainability Promotion Office, a member of the event's secretariat, reflected, "I am very pleased that we were able to contribute to spreading STEAM to children through this event, together with everyone at SAKURA Tempesta. I was a little worried about how things would go with 40 children gathering in the office on the day, but I was able to see everyone having a great time. The participants were very satisfied, so we would like to continue planning and aim to make next year's event even better."
B-EN-G will continue to contribute to the development of next-generation engineers and the advancement of science and engineering education through its support for SAKURA Tempesta.
