Friday, July 17, 2026
DUST BUSTERS—At top, Idea Squaaaaaaad!!!! team members pose in front of a display featuring their Archaeological Instruments Reimagined (AIR) air pump, which blows dirt off of artifacts without damaging them. Left, the team demonstrates their creation.
A Westlake Village-based after-school program is teaching science, engineering and technology with toys—and so far, it appears to be working.
The program, Ctrl Alt Idea, has spawned team Idea Squaaaaaaad!!!!, which has had an impressive run at recent competitions. Working with Legos, team members Brij Nirmal, 11; Mikey Mitchell, 11; Ajay Malladi, 12; Preston Soltani, 12; and 14-year-old Wesley Simpson design robots that complete tasks. Depending on the competition, they can be pre-determined missions or one given to them on the spot.
For their efforts, team members took first place at the First Lego League (FLL) Southern California qualifier and received the Robot Performance Award. They also earned the first-place Champion’s Award at the FLL Ventura Regional Championship and the Engineering Award at the FLL Southern California State Championship this year.
The robot is a small handheld central computer, known as a Spike hub, connected to motors, sensors and, of course, LEGO pieces. It is fully autonomous, meaning the kids don’t drive it with a controller. Instead, it is programmed by the students to perform tasks such as pulling levers and retrieving items.

Courtesy photos
“There’s a bunch of different physics principles that they have to learn, including gears and levers,” said Coach Alex Beatty. “Then they have to kind of combine that with electronics and engineering.”
In addition to the robot competition, teams must identify a problem within a designated field—this year’s theme was archaeology—develop a project to address it and present their process and conclusions to panels of judges.

Idea Squaaaaaaad!!!! developed the Air Pump 3000, also known as Archaeological Instruments Reimagined (AIR), a long, thin tube connected to a small portable air compressor that can carefully blow away dirt without damaging artifacts.
The team collaborated with local archaeologist Barbara Tejada at the Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks while developing the project. Tejada suggested they move away from using water in their original design and instead use air. The students also created a clip-on attachment using a 3D printer available through the program.
Their invention was also tested in the field by Stanford University archaeologists Patrick Hunt and John Rick, as well as Dr. Chris Witmore of Texas Tech University, who also provided advice on making AIR more suitable for excavation.
Beatty said he started Ctrl Alt Idea because he wanted to find ways to further expand STEM education in the community. With the help of his wife, he developed a business plan and launched the business, which now partners with local schools to bring STEM lessons to students.
But the memb e rs of Ide a Squaaaaaaad!!!! aren’t involved because of school.
“It started with all of us liking Legos when we were kids,” said team member Brij. “We didn’t join [Ctrl Alt Idea] for school, we just joined because we all like robotics.”
Next year, the young engineers plan to move up to a higher level of robotics competition.
“They have the next step, which is the First Tech Challenge, so our team’s moving on to do that,” said Mikey. “The First Tech Challenge is very different because they’re much bigger heavy metal robots.”

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