Dish Lab School · For families

Eight weeks in which your teenager teaches a machine to do a job, breaks it, fixes it, and learns to judge when it is safe to trust.

Dish Lab is a lab for teaching machines to do real jobs. The first job is in a kitchen, because everyone recognises a broken plate. From there the jobs change and the method stays the same. The checks students learn apply to a factory arm, a 3D printer and the AI tools they use every day.

The course starts with that first job in the browser and moves to a real collaborative robot arm and a 3D printer on the table. The working process is the same throughout: specify the job, run it, watch what breaks, add the check that would have caught it, run again, then decide. It is the process I use with manufacturers and fintechs, taught to four students at a time.

By the last week each student has taught the arm to meet all seven goals in the browser and on the table, designed and printed a part that fixes one of its failures, built a small assistant that answers only from a manual they chose and says so when the answer is not there, and presented a one-page readiness report to the room: ship or hold, and why.

Ages: 14 to 18
Format: Eight weeks, 90 minutes a week, in person in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Language: Taught in English
Group: Four students per group, two groups, one instructor. Enrolment follows a conversation with the instructor
Equipment: One collaborative robot arm and one 3D printer, shared by the group
Tuition: 1,000 KM for the eight weeks, paid once
Start: A free 90-minute Dish Lab workshop, or a referral from a family who attended
Finale: Demo day for parents, with a certificate of completion

The eight weeks

01Teach the arm. The first job in the browser kitchen, then the same commands on the real arm. Meet the first three goals on both.
02What the machine can see. Sensors, telemetry, the reach zone on the table, and the bump nothing told it to check for.
03Install, do not remember. Watch for people on screen and a real hold on the table. Give the machine a way to check what it cannot see.
04Print the fix. The arm cracks plates because it grips too hard. Design a gripper pad, print it, test it, watch a print fail, print again.
05A manual of your own. Each student picks one, the arm's own manual included. An assistant that answers from it, with page numbers.
06Saying no. Questions the manual does not answer, what a good refusal sounds like, and a test set the assistant has to pass.
07The checklist fails. A part that passes every check and still does not fit. A program that meets all seven goals and still gets something wrong. Who adds line eight?
08Demo day. The readiness report, presented to parents. Ship or hold, and why.

What we provide

Laptops for the session, set up and ready. Nothing to install at home.
The arm, the printer and the filament. The part each student designs goes home with them.
A printed lab notebook each student keeps, with the process card inside.
The readiness report template, and the report they write on it.
The certificate of completion, with a code that opens the browser lab at home.

What we leave out

The assistant is a supervised classroom build, not a personal chatbot account or a hosted app subscription to take home. Students keep their printed part, notebook and readiness report. The browser lab remains available for practice.

Start with the free family workshop

The entry point is a free 90-minute workshop. A parent or guardian can ask about the next date, see how the lab works and discuss whether the course is a good fit.

Teaching is in English. Cohort dates, venue and any prerequisites will be confirmed before enrollment. Equipment use, supervision and parent or guardian consent arrangements must be agreed before a student participates.

Request the written payment, cancellation and refund terms before paying tuition. An inquiry does not reserve a place or create a payment obligation.

Ask about the free workshop Run the lab with your teenager first

Write with your teenager's age and the weekday afternoons that work. A group opens when four families are confirmed, and places are not held. Please have a parent or guardian make the inquiry and avoid sending a child's full name, school or sensitive information. See our privacy notice.