Robotics Teams Forced to Dock Until Pandemic’s End
D’andre Collington uses block coding to finish up a robotics assignment during quarantine. Photo: D’andre Collington
By NABEEL AHMED and ABDUL WAHIB
Beep! Bop! Boop! [Crash!] The Robotics Teams have been forced into a temporary halt this year due to remote learning, dealing a tough blow to many aspiring programmers.
“The team is only for seniors, so it's sad to hear that this year's seniors aren’t able to participate,” said robotics teacher Ms. Lisa Ali, “especially since they have taken robotics classes since sophomore or even freshman year.”
Even the normal robotics and mechatronics classes rely heavily on in-person interactions with other students and the robots themselves. Former member Shayan Ali was on the team until the start of the pandemic. He learned a lot, he said, and was disheartened to hear that the next class wouldn’t be able to experience the same thing. The robotics team “might just pique an interest” students never knew they had, he said.
“It helped me choose a major in college,” he said. “It helped me to narrow down what I want to do and introduced me to the basics of coding.”
The current juniors are taking mechatronics via remote learning on the CoderZ website. Omar Botello ’22, who is taking robotics for the first time, said he feels “welcomed” and that the class “is very fun, even online,” but it can still be a struggle to stay motivated.
“I think I’ve missed out on a lot of aspects in robotics, a hands-on class, being that I’ve only experienced it online,” Botello said, “Some issues can't be helped, but at the end of the day I'm still learning and enjoying my time.”
“The best we can do is to try our best at times like these and hope the team will be back for the next juniors,” said Ms. Ali.
The drawbacks of remote learning are obvious, and felt most of all in hands-on classes like robotics.
“I feel like I would’ve been more attached to the class if my first impressions were in-person because I would be able to build and program the robot myself,” Botello explained.
Of course, robotics is not just about learning coding. It’s also about team-based problem-solving and comradery, Shayan Ali added, which are a big part of the “really fun experience” of the robotics classes. Keeping that spirit alive this year has required some creative thinking.
"My favorite activity so far is the shoelace tying activity,” junior Mansoor Abid said. “Each of the classes was put into a giant group and had to cooperate to come up with a detailed step-by-step guide on tying a shoelace. It was very messy, but it turned out to be very funny."
Experienced robotics students who have moved on to mechatronics have also had to adjust.
“I cannot code on CoderZ the way I did with an EV3,” said D’andre Collington, a junior mechatronics student. “I feel like in real life, I can evaluate my codes more accurately when [the robot] is in front of me.”
When he’s constantly in front of a screen, the motivation dwindles, Collington said. But there have been a few silver linings. “I have to admit, using block coding is far easier and less tedious than the language we used before,” he explained. “You can just drag blocks and edit them to fit your commands, rather than manually typing the code.”
"Ms. Ali does a good job of trying to make the virtual school experience as comfortable and smooth as possible,” Collington added. “She uses every opportunity she has to provide extra help to her students, in terms of both robotics and mechatronics and mental support. She supports her students, which shows she truly does care for us to be successful."
In anticipation of a return to normalcy, check out last year’s robotics articles here and here.