The Upper School robotics team is the winner of the SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 Competition.
During the three-day event, EA took on teams from New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Montreal, China, and Turkey.
EA's 2234 robotics team advanced to the playoffs with a team from Turkey and Michigan. In the best-out-of-three match-ups in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, the alliance was undefeated.
"The biggest challenge for our team was making sure the robot was working properly after each match," explained Amy Chen '19. "Matches tend to get pretty physical and, as a result, pieces of the robot may break or come loose. We had to carefully inspect the robot after each match to make sure everything would function the way it was designed, and that process helped us become more versatile as a team."
"When we took the robot back to the pit after the match, our team immediately fixed any broken parts from the match," shared Liz Palumbo '19. "At one point, pieces of aluminum popped off of the robot, and the team was able to make it look like it didn't happen. I think the challenges encouraged good communication, quick thinking, and innovation among our teammates."
Participants included: Amy Chen '19, Olivia Cipperman '19, Sarah Huang '20, Drew Landaiche '19, Jake Landaiche '19, Laura Lewis '19, Liz Palumbo '19, Myles Peter '19, Bing Quan '19, Aarushi Singh '20, and Peter Tang '19.
"Each match consists of a 15-second autonomous (auto) period and a two-minute and 15-second teleoperated (teleop) period," explained Amy. "During auto, the robot runs on pre-programmed coding without human interference, and during teleop, the driver (Laura Lewis) and operator (Liz Palumbo) take over. Laura Lewis and Aarushi Singh are the programmers."
The competition took place April 9-11 at Hofstra University. As winners of the regional competition, all three EA teams are invited to the world championship competition to be held in Detroit April 25-28.
"I'm looking forward to interacting with people from other countries and competing with the best robots in FIRST," said Liz. "It will be interesting to see the different approaches teams took in building their robots. I think we'll see really unique robots because they are the best in FIRST Robotics."
"I participate in robotics because I love a challenge," said Amy. "FIRST creates a new game every year so each year is a chance to adapt and improve. From planning the robot to competing in competitions, I love the entire process and being on a team with such wonderful people makes it even better."
"It's a tight-knit group, and everyone works together really well," said Liz.
Middle School Technology Coordinator Linda Lew, Hon. and Upper School math teacher Teddy Mathisen are advisors for the Robotics Team. EA Network Administrator Paul Merchant also attended the competition.