Our Mission
Two problems, one platform.
We exist because the robotics equipment supply chain is broken for everyone.
Problem 01 · E-Waste
Functional equipment deserves a better outcome than a landfill.
Thousands of motors, controllers, sensors, and structural components pile up in storage rooms or head to landfills. This equipment is expensive to make and often still works. It should be building robots, not gathering dust.
Problem 02 · The Access Gap
This isn't a talent gap. It's an access gap.
A VEX IQ starter kit costs $300 to $500. An FRC season costs $6,000 to $10,000 or more. Schools with fewer financial resources often face greater difficulty covering robotics kits, replacement parts, registration, travel, and competition supplies. Title I schools, which serve students from low-income families, are affected most by these costs.
Our Mission
We keep good robotics parts building.
The Builders Exchange is a free platform that gets surplus robotics equipment to the teams that need it. Donors list the parts they no longer use, teams tell us what they are looking for, and we make the match. There is no cost, and nothing goes to waste. Good parts simply end up back in the hands of builders who will put them to work.
The Gap We Fill
- ✕FIRST Robotics gives cash grants, but grants can't move surplus parts.
- ✕DonorsChoose crowdfunds new supplies, but nobody redistributes what already exists.
- ✕Teams upgrade and have nowhere to send their old parts.
- ✕Companies retire R&D hardware with no good option.
- ✕E-waste orgs receive robotics equipment they can't repurpose.
- ✓The Builders Exchange is the missing link.
Where We Are Today
The Builders Exchange is currently a volunteer-led pilot program based in California. We are working toward formal nonprofit status. Equipment donations are not currently tax-deductible. We will update this page as our status changes.
The Mission