When Kamil Szwed graduated from Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale in 2020, he never expected to return five years later — no less with a humanoid robot by his side.
Now a robotics integration specialist at RoboStore, based in Long Island a tech startup focused on hands-on STEM learning, Szwed recently brought the Unitree G1 humanoid robot — used in research, development and education — and its four-legged robotic dog to his alma mater.
After he graduated from Kellenberg, he majored in computer science with a minor in cyber security in mathematics at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
“At RoboStore, we really believe that early exposure is critical, especially when curating minds to think outside the box,” he said.
As an integration specialist, Szwed helps lead the strategy behind advanced robotic systems, bridging engineering, software and innovation for classrooms, labs and industry.
His visit brought together students from engineering and physics classes on Nov. 20 while drawing the attention of the entire school, to interact with cutting-edge technology and ask questions that showed their curiosity.
Students watched as the humanoid robot stood, walked and responded to commands. The robot’s balance and responsiveness — powered by Python and Robot Operating System 2, or ROS 2 — showed how quickly technology once seen as futuristic is becoming part of everyday life.
“When I see a humanoid robot walking, balancing on its own, responding to software that I wrote, it kind of shifts your perspective,” Szwed said, “from being in a classroom where you’re doing mostly theory, to seeing what’s possible and what is out there in front of you.”
For many students, the experience sparked new interest in engineering and robotics.
“I thought it was really interesting how the robot was trained and programmed to move like a human,” Kellenberg senior Kira Petrosky said. “It definitely made me more interested in coding — and in robotics in general.
“It was crazy,” she added. “I just saw it run down the hallway, and I was like, ‘I’m scared,’ but I thought it was really cool to see stuff that we’re doing in class.”
Another senior, Ioanner Ibrovo, echoed those sentiments, saying, “I was just like blown away to see, just how far we can really go.”
Both students said the visit influenced their thinking about future careers. Petrosky said she plans to major in engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, while Ibrovo, who wants to become a pilot, plans to study aerospace engineering, starting at Farmingdale State College.The demonstration, they said, made those careers seem more real.
Szwed said reactions are often the same at public demos but something deeper happens in classrooms.
“You could actually see everyone’s brains start thinking, start turning,” he said. “It was nice seeing everyone have their individual ideas of what they could do with robotics.”
Michael Sorkin, who teaches physics and engineering at Kellenberg and leads the school’s Robotics Club, said the energy spread far beyond the classroom.
“I saw kids running from the entire building to the library — the technology center here, sprinting in between classes, after lunch,” he said. “These were kids I’ve never even seen before asking, ‘What is that?’”
Students asked about sensors, motors, AI and camera systems. The most rewarding part, Szwed said, was hearing students imagine how they might use robots in their own work in the future.
“Being able to bridge the gap between theory and what you learn in school and what’s actually available out there in the world,” he said.
“And being able to develop on one of these robots, or shape the robots in the future, only a couple of years away,” he added.
Sorkin said the demonstration led students to connect classroom concepts with real-world technology. Students often think of electricity as something basic, like powering a light bulb, but seeing it help a robot make decisions reframes the concept.
“It’s a really cool way to make what they’re learning in engineering and physics into something more real world,” he said. “How can I take what I learned in physics and use that to make a robot talk — or walk around?”
He emphasized that students don’t need prior experience to join the Robotics Club — just curiosity.
Sorkin also reminded students that while robots and AI are evolving quickly, they’re still tools, not replacements.
“I think of it as more of a tool, rather than a replacement,” he said. “We’ve discussed AI in class several times, and it’s not going away. But I don’t think it’ll ever replace a human teacher.”
Szwed credited teachers like Sorkin with helping him see the potential in what he was learning.
Sorkin smiled at the compliment — and joked that he’d take “about 1 percent” of the credit for inspiring Szwed.
“Teachers play such a pivotal role in not only having to teach a subject, but making it exciting and having you pay attention in order to kind of fuel that spark inside of you,” Szwed explained, giving Sorkin much more than 1 percent of the credit.
For Szwed, that spark is the real goal — to show students that the future of tech isn’t far off.
“High school is often the first place that you’re exposed to concepts like that,” he said. “Making physics not sound boring is a skill in itself. And being able to show kids how you could think of the world, just from a single class, really pushes forward our ability to pursue it later on in college.”
