Use the gym
Capabilities
The Peninsula STEM Gym gives local student robotics teams a place to test robot functionality, gain driving practice, and iterate on their designs before they compete.
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Carpeted field:
- Length: 35'-6" — 66% the length of the official competition field
- Width: 26'-4.64" — the full width of the official competition field
- Ceiling height: 11'-2" clearance to the bottom of the roof trusses
- Two DRIVER STATIONS giving representative views of the field
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Visual fiducials:
- In-season: AprilTags matching the official layout as closely as the space allows
- Off-season: AprilTags arranged in a game-agnostic layout
- Power for charging batteries
- Wi-Fi (ask us for access)
- 6 GHz field access point (ask us to configure it for your robot)
Please note:
- For an optimal experience, come ready to operate your working robot. Support for robot repair is limited; access to tools may be possible on request.
- The space isn't always heated or cooled. Dress for the weather.
Photo gallery
Driving and parking
11516 Jefferson Ave Unit #2, Newport News, VA 23601We're behind the tattoo parlor, directly across from Deer Park in central Newport News. Parking is very limited. Please don't park in front of the tattoo parlor. Enter through the roll-up door facing the parking area.
Reserve the space
The STEM Gym is open only by request, on evenings and weekends. Send us a message to request a time.
Downloads
AprilTag layouts
WPILib AprilTag field layouts for the Peninsula STEM Gym practice field. Load with new AprilTagFieldLayout(path).
- 2026RebuiltPeninsulaSTEMGym.json
- Game-agnostic AprilTag layout (coming soon)
Keep the gym running
Help keep the gym open
Since 2018, 90+ local students and 250+ students on visiting teams have practiced at the STEM Gym.
We're looking for:
- Annual fabrication of high-fidelity mockups of the official FRC playing field elements
- Semi-annual renewal of the playing field carpet
- Upgraded field networking equipment
- Help covering operating costs
Get in touch
Build the next gym
Our vision
The Peninsula STEM Gym is a place for student robotics teams to develop competition robots and have real-world engineering experiences that will inspire a lifelong interest in science and math. Since 2018, 90+ local students and 250+ students on visiting teams have practiced at the STEM Gym.
Intentional Innovation Foundation is seeking a new home for the STEM Gym, and we ask for your help identifying suitable locations on the Peninsula. We envision the next iteration of the STEM Gym serving our community more broadly, and delivering the life-changing STEM experiences we know we can provide.
Value to your company
For each of IIF's corporate sponsors, our STEM programs form an important pillar of their long-term workforce development strategy. Making space at your facility to host the STEM Gym would clearly indicate a similarly bold and forward-looking vision for the future of the STEM workforce in Hampton Roads.
Students using the STEM Gym can absorb your company's values and work practices, and develop a better appreciation for what engineering jobs really look and feel like. Our collaboration could also include:
- Student internship and mentorship opportunities
- Mutual participation in outreach events like open houses and youth days
- Technical interchanges such as lunch-and-learns and red-team reviews of robot designs
- IIF-furnished machine tools for shared use, such as product prototyping, small-scale manufacturing, and collaborative projects
- Background screening and youth protection training for mentors and coaches
- Co-insured status on our liability insurance
- A contribution from IIF toward rent and utilities
- Use of the practice field as overflow meeting or logistics space when teams aren't using it
Value to your municipality
Intentional Innovation Foundation can serve as your community's nonprofit partner for youth STEM engagement and as volunteer operator of its STEM Gym. Investing in a STEM Gym reflects a long-term vision for a vibrant local workforce ready to tackle tomorrow's high-tech challenges.
A STEM Gym gives the public a central place to access STEM programs for all ages. It helps fix the "leaky STEM pipeline", reaches students that existing programs underserve, and grows future contributors to the region's knowledge economy. A STEM Gym in your community can bring:
- A regional hub and practice space for existing local FIRST robotics teams and visiting teams from across the region
- A base camp supporting the growth of a robust pipeline of STEM programs for grades 3–12 and their families
- Year-round public events: kickoff and "meet the field" days, scrimmages and reveal nights, a youth STEM leadership conference, combat robot "Fight Nights", and more
- Adaptive reuse of an underused building, with IIF contributing toward rent and utilities, without ruling out its later redevelopment
Space requirements
| Location | On the Virginia Peninsula |
|---|---|
| Practice field | 3,000 sqft including a flat, level, column-free area of about 30 x 75 ft. Ceiling height: 14 ft or more. Floor: a flat, level concrete slab; we bring and install our own carpet. |
| Workshop | 1,000+ sqft with lockable areas where teams can store tools, parts, and work in progress |
| Power | 120 V for the field, plus split-phase or 3-phase power for a few larger machine tools |
| Access | IIF key volunteers can enter at any time with little or no notice; teams mostly use the space on evenings and weekends |
| Loading | Ground level, through double doors or a garage door |
| Parking | 25+ spaces (10+ for the field and 15+ for the workshop) |
| Also required | Heat, an ADA restroom, and high-speed internet |
| Nice to have | Air conditioning and dock-height loading |
| Not needed | Significant road frontage or exclusive use of the facility |
How to support the vision
Get in touch to discuss a collaboration, or make a donation to support the STEM Gym: