TRC founder and director
meet coach mike
Michael Puckett, M.Ed.
Owner and Director, Tennessee Robotics Center
It All Started in My Garage. Two Boys, a Robot, and a Challenge
In Navy aviation, we learned to fly into the wind. Not because it's easier—but because that's how you generate lift. Headwinds aren't obstacles. They're what get you off the ground.
I wanted my boys to experience that. So in 2011, we built robots. We competed. We failed. We got back up. And somewhere along the way, they discovered they were capable of more than they thought.
That garage grew into something bigger than I imagined. It became my calling.
For fifteen years now, I've coached and mentored teams in FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge. In 2020, our FTC team 11161 earned the prestigious Inspire Award at the Tennessee State Championship and qualified for the World Championship in Houston. COVID canceled that trip—but it didn't cancel what my team learned about themselves and what they achieved.
On July 16, 2022, Tennessee Robotics Center officially opened its doors. What once fit in my garage is now a full K-12 robotics and engineering education center serving hundreds of students across Middle Tennessee and beyond.
And we're just getting started. In 2026, we're launching TRConstellation—our first curriculum—and TRC Online, bringing TRC to students everywhere. Maybe even in outer space:)
Why Space?
If you walk through TRC, you'll notice something different from other learning centers like mine: space is everywhere. Mission patches on the walls. Rockets on the shelves. A curriculum built around astronauts, lunar landers, and missions to the Moon and Mars.
There's a personal reason for that.
When Ben was growing up, his room was covered in space memorabilia. Posters of shuttles. LEGO models of rockets. Maps of the Moon. That room is where his curiosity came alive—and where I first saw what happens when a kid finds something bigger than themselves to reach for.
Space reminds me of him. It reminds me why we started. But there's a bigger reason, too.
We're living in a new era of exploration. Artemis is returning humans to the Moon. SpaceX is building rockets that land themselves. The first person to walk on Mars is probably sitting in a classroom right now—maybe even yours.
The kids at TRC aren't just learning about space history. They're preparing for space futures. The engineers, scientists, and astronauts of the Artemis Generation are being shaped right now, in garages and classrooms and robotics labs just like ours.
That's why space isn't just our theme. It's our trajectory. These are Vectors.
Why "Dare Mighty Things"?
This quote hangs in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was encoded into the parachute that landed the Perseverance rover on Mars:
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." — Theodore Roosevelt
That's not just our motto. It's our method.
At TRC, failure isn't something we protect kids from—it's something we prepare them for. Every robot that doesn't work the first time, every competition that doesn't go as planned, every problem that seems impossible until suddenly it isn't—these are the moments that transform afraid-to-try into can't-be-stopped.
Your instinct as a parent is to shield your child from disappointment. But the kids who thrive aren't the ones who never fail. They're the ones who've learned to fail forward.
That's what we teach here.
Dare Mighty Things.
— Michael, Founder & Director U.S. Navy Veteran | M.Ed., Purdue University
our story
FIRST, there was AN IDEA
It was the summer of 2011 when my oldest son named Ben approached me with a simple request: "Dad, can I join a robotics team?" As a coach and father with a career in network engineering and a passion for engineering education—that question ignited something far greater than either of us could have imagined at the time.
After researching opportunities and programs, we discovered FIRST LEGO League but couldn't find a local team to join. Rather than simply signing Ben up for another program, I saw a chance to do something more. So we cleared out space in my two-car garage, built a robotics table, recruited a handful of neighborhood kids and homeschoolers, and Tennessee Robotics Club was born in the summer of 2011.
A Brick DYnasty
2011 was a truly special year for us, marking our "rookie" year in a thrilling journey filled with new experiences. As we navigated through the challenges, we had a lot to learn, but we also built many lasting friendships along the way. These connections would prove invaluable, laying a solid foundation of teamwork that not only benefited us in the moment but also set the stage for a winning tradition that would thrive for years to come. Over the subsequent four years, TRC achieved remarkable success, winning several FLL regional and state championship awards. This achievement helped establish our team Brick Dynasty as a team synonymous with excellence, values, dedication, and outstanding performance in the world of FIRST LEGO League robotics.
Brick dynasty 2011-2016
FLL Tennessee State Championship Results
- 2012- 2nd Presentation Award
- 2014- 1st Robot Performance
- 2014- 2nd Strategy & Innovation
- 2015- 1st Teamwork
- 2016- 2nd Mechanical Design
FLL Regional Qualifier Results
- 2011- 1st Robot Performance
- 2011- 2nd Overall Performance
- 2012- 2nd Robot Design
- 2013- 1st Champion’s Award
- 2014- 1st Robot Design
- 2015- 1st Champion’s Award
MORE THAN ROBOTS
What started out as a father teaching his sons quickly became a calling. I watched students who arrived timid and uncertain transform into confident problem-solvers and communicators. Kids who struggled in traditional classrooms thrived when given robotic gears, motors, and code. Friendships formed that would last decades.
My garage filled on Saturdays with the sounds of robots, motors whirring, Legos swishing, students designing solutions, and the unmistakable thrill of a LEGO robot finally doing what it was programmed to do. Through late nights and early mornings, we poured everything we had into these students—drawing on my Navy discipline, my master's degree in Education, and an unshakeable belief that every child could rise to greatness when given the chance.
Year after year, our program grew stronger. By 2019, Ben earned the prestigious FIRST Dean's List Award and traveled to Houston, where he shook hands with FIRST founder Dean Kamen himself. The boy who once asked to join a robotics team had become exactly the kind of leader I always believed he could be and met the founder of the program who enabled him to do so. Over the next 5 years, our program impacted over 25 students in FTC and mentored hundreds of students in FLL and Community programs. Of the 25, three of the founding team members continued their robotics adventure in FTC and won the Tennessee FTC Championship in 2019.
A Giant leap
Then came 2020—and with it, the pinnacle of everything TRC had worked toward. The FTC team had done the unthinkable. After years of growth, learning, and perseverance, they captured the trifecta, prestigious Inspire Award, Dean's List Award and Winning Alliance Captain award finishing first place at the Tennessee State Championship—the highest honor a team can achieve, all three awards achieved in one tournament. For the first time in TRC history, they earned a spot at the FIRST World Championship in Houston. Our bags were already packed. Dreams were within reach.
In 2019-2020 season FIRST RISE Skystone, TRC FTC team 11161 achieved the prestigious Inspire Award at the Tennessee FTC State Championship, propelling them to the World Championship in Houston, TX for the first time. Their robot Big Red still provides robot demonstrations for TRC.
dare mighty things
In March of 2020, COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the World Championship just weeks before the team was set to compete. Everything we had built—the community, the momentum, the dream—stood frozen in uncertainty. TRC had to shut its doors, and for months, the future of our program remained unclear. It would have been easy to walk away. Many programs did. We tried to do virtual robotics but it wasn't the same. I remember sitting in my garage and took this photo. A garage that was flooded with young people and robots now stood eerily quite. It reminded me of my favorite speech by Theodore Roosevelt whose three simple words later become TRC's guiding light:
"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
I refused to live in a gray twilight. I knew God had a bigger vision for TRC. One day.
Together, we rise
On July 16, 2022—Ben's birthday—I opened the doors to something entirely new: the Tennessee Robotics Center. No longer a garage operation, TRC emerged as a full 21st-century learning center in Murfreesboro with three learning labs, a student lounge, a GearShop, and a vision bigger than ever before. This wasn't just reopening. This was a giant leap of faith. This was rising—together.
From that rebirth came a commitment to four core values that would guide every student, coach, and mentor who walked through TRC's doors:
Respect
For everyone—teammates, competitors, and community alike. Every voice matters. Every idea deserves to be heard.
Integrity
First—doing what's right even when no one is watching, because character built in the robotics lab is character that lasts a lifetime.
Service
To others—using the skills learned at TRC to give back, to lift up, and to make a positive impact in Middle Tennessee and beyond.
Excellence
In all we do—not perfection, but the relentless pursuit of being better today than we were yesterday.
Together, we RISE.
the next generation
Today, Tennessee Robotics Center stands as a force for change in Middle Tennessee—proof that mighty things begin with a single question and the courage to answer it. Today, we are building the next generation of homeschool programs, drone and rocketry teams, and expanding our program reach with online learning. Today, we have seven teams competing in FLL, FTC, RDL and American Rocketry Challenge competitions. This spring, we will begin NASA Artemis Challenge.
Every student who walks through TRC's doors joins a winning legacy fifteen years in the making. They learn that failure isn't the opposite of success; it's the pathway to it. They discover that the same persistence required to debug code is the same persistence that will carry them through life's greatest challenges.
And somewhere in every lesson, every competition, every breakthrough moment, echoes the spirit of a father and his son who simply wanted to learn about robots—and ended up building something that will shape generations to come.
We are TRC. We Dare Mighty Things.
Tennessee Robotics Club- big RED 11161
FTC Alabama
- 2017- 3rd Rockwell Collins Innovate Award
- 2018- 1st Think Award
- 2019- 2nd Design Award
- 3rd Control Award
FTC Tennessee State Championship Results
- 2019- 1st Collins Aerospace Innovate Award
- 2020- Inspire Award Winner (State Champion)
- Captain Winning Alliance
- 1st Design Award
- 2nd- Control Award
- 2021- COVID Year :( DNF
- 2022- Rebuilding program
- 2023- 3rd Think Award
- 2024- 1st Motivate Award
- 1st Winning Alliance Team
- 2025- 1st Winning Alliance Team
- 2nd Motivate Award
- Invitation to Premier Event
- 2026- TBA
