You may have seen our robotics team hard at work on the first floor of the Hajjar STEM Center. You may not have seen them, as I did, at 9:00 PM on a recent Friday night, doing their not-quite-final preparations for the New Jersey State Championship Tournament that took place a week ago. The entire Taub Innovation Floor was abuzz with the physical work on the robot, students trying to finish a new appendage designed to lift a beachball, some working on the gears, some weaving wires to hold the ball. Located at different computer stations around the floor, other students could be found creating the proper coding to make the robot do what they wanted. The work of this group has been truly remarkable. I want to share with you their newsletter, and congratulate the team on its victories in recent competitions. Although they did not place as well as they wanted in their final tournament, they agree that they had a very successful season.
By the way, I urge you to attend one of these competitions some time. You will be amazed by what you see. Beyond the battles of the bots themselves are all the team efforts going on at the work-stations of each competitor, and the interactions between teams as they make alliances throughout the competition. It’s vibrant and powerful.
Click the image above to read the Critical Mass Newsletter