In the age of rapid technological advancement, US army veteran Hermann Kreimann is helping high school students find their bearings in the field of robotics.
Kreimann trained in the military as a sergeant who specialized in joint node network management, computer networking, and satellite communications and served by providing communications and radio support.
Hermann explains, “I was a tinkerer even as a child and the army provided me an excellent opportunity to gain the technical expertise that I now rely on”.
The shift after retiring from active duty to teaching children about engineering was very organic. It began with Kreimann’s son, who was aware of his father’s passion and expertise and encouraged him to start. He says, “My son asked me to open a summer science camp or a computer engineering camp. I was hesitant at first but then decided to give it a shot.”
Hermann’s wife joined him in this endeavor and soon they were competing in, and winning lots of competitions in and around the Inland Empire. Soon, their teams were winning regional and even advanced to state championship tournaments at Legoland in San Diego.
Their upward trajectory culminated in their winning the World Robotic Olympiad championship. They were subsequently selected to represent the USA at the championship in Denmark where they competed against over 200 teams from over 70 countries, placing 10th overall!
Kreimann’s company then expanded to training over 2000 students across 35 schools every year, a remarkable achievement for what had started off as a science summer camp just a few years back.
It was then that Hermann decided to co-found his own competition league called the US Engineering League.
He passionately states, “the idea behind our platform is to provide different competition opportunities for students to compete in science, technology, engineering, and math”.
As a former football coach, he says, “helping kids compete in robotics tournaments gives me the same adrenaline rush I got coaching football, I think it really encourages the kids to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills”.
“Robotics helps a lot of kids, gives them an outlet to represent their schools, and to feel a sense of accomplishment.”
His company is committed to providing free programs as well as discounts to lower-income families.
Hermann has also recently set up a non-profit called the E4K Foundation Inc. in order to help those in need of financial support when it comes to learning.
Kreimann says, “I never want us to turn back a student who wants to learn but is unable to do so because of financial reasons”.
