For more than 20 years, Due Hoang watched the impact STEM and robotics had on his students. Before leaving education to care for his aging parents, Hoang was the Redwood Middle STEM Lab teacher and VEX robotics coach.
He saw how building and coding engaged students’ curiosity. Now, Hoang is bringing that experience to more students in a new role in the local private sector.
In 2025 Hoang started his own robotics academy situated in downtown Saratoga at 14363 Saratoga Ave, directly next to a Kumon center. It is called the International Robotics Academy, or IRA.
Through the IRA, he hopes younger elementary and middle school students can begin their robotics journeys early and continue pursuing it later in life.
Unlike the various STEM academies that rely only on adult teachers, Hoang has created a model where older students teach younger students. He has brought in some of his former robotics students, now members of the SHS robotics teams, as well as other experienced mentors to teach elementary and middle schoolers.
“Back when I was a middle school teacher, I always tried to encourage students to give back to the STEM community,” he said. “It’s one thing to do it well on your own, but another thing to be able to take that wealth of knowledge that you have and help the younger generation with that. The teachers are also all very passionate, experienced and make great role models that the younger students could relate to.”
Senior Ashwin Kotti was one of the first student mentors who helped teach and set up the program, and is currently one of the paid part-time employees at the IRA. Having taught at the program since it opened last summer, Kotti said that it has helped him realize the importance of learning how to explain technical concepts to younger students.
“One of my biggest takeaways from working at the IRA is that I’m still learning,” he said. “Anyone can learn the basic coding, CAD and tool skills needed to build a robot, but not everyone can explain those concepts to students who are completely new to robotics. At the IRA, you need to be skilled in robotics, but just as skilled in teaching it. Through my time there, especially under Hoang’s guidance, I’ve gotten much better at doing that.”
The classes taught at the academy include mechanics, CAD — Computer Aided Design, or 3D modeling software — modeling, programming, VEX-focused programs and more. Many of the courses incorporate aspects from his previous STEM Lab classes at Redwood in addition to the competitive VEX VRC robotics.
Junior Aidan Liu also teaches at IRA and has done instruction in CAD, VEX drivetrains and VEX IQ programming, mechanics with bricks and mechanics. Liu was also one of Hoang’s past STEM Lab students and VEX robotics members at Redwood.
“I joined the IRA as a way to give back to Mr. Hoang and the robotics community overall. I remember him staying long hours after build sessions at the Makerspace just to assist my team in fine-tuning our robot design,” Liu said. “These qualities of his have stuck with me ever since, and I try to embody a similar guidance and patience when working with my students.”
Although Hoang has coaching and help for outside VEX teams available at the academy, he also brought four first-year competitive teams under the IRA: Robotniks, Crescendo, Terrifics and Robo Griffins. Out of these, two teams qualified to the world championships this year — an impressive feat for first-year teams.
“What I really want is for the IRA to be a place where students not only learn robotics, but also learn to pass that knowledge on,” Hoang said. “When older students share what they love with younger kids, it builds a community where everyone is learning, teaching, and inspiring each other.”
