Grace Reilly ‘19
The 2018 season for the ever-growing EA Robotics Team was its most successful ever. The varsity team, called 2234, won first place at their SBPLI Long Island Regional competition, landing them a spot in the World Competition held in Detroit. After a shaky start at their Springside Chestnut Hill Competition, 2234 team members refined their skills and prepared themselves for success in the season.
A significant difference between the Episcopal program and many other robotics teams is that the robots are built by the students with teachers Edward Mathisen ’02, Linda Lew, Diane Radov, and Chris Shane guides. “When Mr. Mathisen and I started the program we agreed what was most important was that the students build [the robot], program it, and wire it and all the faculty and engineering mentors are there to guide you, but you really know the ins and outs of the robot,” explains Lew. Drew Landaiche ’19, a 2234 team member, explains, “The coaches are purely there to push us in the right direction and help us if we need it. In our team, we do all the designing ourselves and it makes it a much better and rewarding experience because you know its your own work out there competing in the field.”
In past years, 2234 has not been as successful as they were this year. Jake Landaiche ’19 credits their success to the new process they took this season. The Robotics pre-season starts after Thanksgiving break, when team 2234 members introduce tools and building methods to members on 2095, which is the team for newer members to Episcopal Academy’s robotics program.
The season commences in the beginning of January and the final robots are due six weeks later. 2234 members spent time prototyping and thoroughly designing a robot that could complete the specific tasks challenged for this year’s competition, including lifting boxes and placing them on designated surfaces and climb a seven-foot barrier. Landaiche says, “We did a very good job making sure what we were building was correct. Last year we ended up not even building for the right strategy, so we made sure we knew 100, percent what we want to do and how we want to do it so we had an actual chance of winning.”
Laura Lewis ’19, a programmer, and Liz Palumbo ’19, a builder, remark on the benefit of having worked with the same team for a while. “We’ve been working together for a couple years, we know each other really well, and we have been through this process before.” This year’s team did not have any members from the class of 2018, giving the several members from the class of 2019 two years to compete as leaders.
2234 is hopeful for their 2018-2019 season. Mathisen explains, “When we went to Detroit, we were competing, but another reason we went was also so that the members of the team could see different ways and strategies to build and design robots and problem solving within this game and in general.”