Cara Harty ‘20:
Robotics is a unique opportunity offered to EA students. “What is great about Episcopal is that it offers robotics and other STEM initiatives to students outside of its class offerings,” Middle School Technology Coordinator and co-head of Robotics, Linda Lew, states.
Episcopal Robotics has two teams: 2095 is for those new to robotics or new to EA’s program and 2234 is for those who have prior experience. These team numbers are assigned by FIRST Robotics, the organization in which EA competes. Edward Mathisen ‘02, Linda Lew, Chris Shane ‘02, and Diane Radov compose the coaching staff of the Robotics team.
The 2234 team is currently in its eleventh year and the 2095 team is in its fourth year. Eleven years ago, a Lower Merion teacher working with the FRC wanted to get area schools interested in robotics. A few interested EA students went to a competition with the Wissahickon High School Robotics Team. Shortly after, Geoff Wagg, former Head of Upper School, agreed to count robotics as a winter sport due to the time commitment.
Photo Courtesy of Amy Chen ‘19
The preseason for both teams starts in December, in which the teams build practice robots together. Every year in January, the FRC releases a game internationally, in which teams build a robot to play that specific game. Drew Landaiche ‘19 explains, “We do not know the game yet, but we do know the theme is ‘First Power Up.’ We think it is related to video games, so we are excited.”
After the game challenge is released, the teams start designing and building their robot. The 2095 team competes in two local competitions and the 2234 team competes in two local and one elsewhere. This year the 2234 team will be traveling to Long Island, New York. Episcopal’s 2234 team has traveled to places such as Houston, New York City, Fort Lauderdale, and Canada. In its first year, Episcopal’s team won the Rookie All Star Award at a competition at the Naval Academy, and went onto the World Championship in Atlanta.
Photo Courtesy of www.episcopalacademy.org
Each team has four subgroups: Programming, CAD, and Build. In programming, team members map out all the commands to an XBox controller responsible for controlling the robot during a match.
In CAD, a member uses “a software program to design the robot and make a digital version so we can see how to construct the actual one,” Sarah Huang ‘20 stated. Members who are not in the programming or CAD group are part of the Build team, which constructs the robot.
“Most people don’t think high-schoolers will be able to build robots, so it’s very invigorating when all the hard work you put in shows, especially when it’s on the field and working,” Karissa Lim ‘20 expresses. Lew mentions there have been a “number of past members who have gone on to study engineering at Northwestern, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
One of the first members of 2234, Steven Wu ’09, is currently a manufacturing engineer for Boeing in Seattle, developing the new version of the 777. Lew explains, “We are planning to have Steven share his experience from EA to Northwestern to Boeing with the teams in the spring.” Lew also notes, “I think for students who are interested in engineering, it is a good option for them, especially if they want to pursue it in the future.”