HS Robotics!
Dear Families,
This is the high school’s second year of having a robotics team and the team is such a great group with endless energy, I have asked captain Liam Cohen ’13 to give an update on how the team is doing this year.
LREI Robotics has had and interesting year. I have to say, when I was beginning Tenth Grade, and Robotics at the high school was entering it’s second year, I was not sure what direction Robotics would take. This year’s turnout was much greater than last year. Last year we had eleven kids. This year, we have a few more members including some new members from the Class of 2014. This year the members include: Callie Richards ’13, Thomas Marin ’13, David White ’13, Leon Sukhram ’13, Khalil Brown ’13, Charles Simpson-Brown ’13, Ivo Ilic ’14, Cesar Siguencia ’14, Tolu Eleyinafe ’14, Bryce Council ’14, and Nathaniel Magloire ’14, and me. We also invited a prodigal seventh grader on to the team as a special member, Zachary Feal (brother of Olivia Feal ’11). He has shown great promise in Robotics through Sherezada Acosta’s team and LREI summer programs, and has made many great contributions to the team. Our coaches are Chris Udell and Arthur Lewis who helps out with programming and the computer aspect of the robot we are building.
There were many things that were done wrong last year with the robotics challenge, and we spent many of the first weeks reviewing our mistakes, making sure that we do not repeat them. After that we began to throw around miscellaneous ideas on how to tackle and solve this year’s challenge, a terrain challenge, for Robotics teams who participate in the USFirst competition. Our robot must navigate difficult terrain such as, “mountains,” corrugated floor tiles, and bridges, trying to score six inch batons into free rolling and stationary goals. The objective is to score as many points as possible. After reviewing last year, we brainstormed ideas for this year and decided to start working on our chassis, or the main frame of the robot.
We had to design a chassis that would be fairly quick at moving around, but still be able to gracefully navigate the tough terrain. The next challenge we had to wrestle with was securing our strategy, because that really is what dictates the design of our robot. The strategy is such a large part of the challenge because one’s robot will change based on how well one wants to perform a specific task. Our third major challenge was to create an actuator or a mechanism that scores our batons. This went through many revisions for many reasons, one factor being weight and another being the effectiveness of the actuator. Our fourth major challenge was our autonomous code. There is a forty second period before the driver-controlled period, where our robot has to move entirely on its own without human interference. This is called the autonomous period. The most difficult part of this was making our robot score autonomously, especially with all of the tough terrain. These are all of the challenges that we have faced so far, and many of the above challenges are not met yet and still need fine tuning, plus there will be plenty more challenges to come in the future.
Our robot is not yet finished, and honestly it probably never will be. That is what robotics is all about, one is never done. There are always improvements that can be made, that can make one’s robot do what it was designed to do even better. However, we do believe that we will be ready enough for our first competition. We plan to go to our first competition this month on the 19th, in Newark, New Jersey. It is not a New York competition so there is no pressure and if we lose nothing happens, however if we win we get an invitation to the world championship in St. Louis, Missouri. The next competition after that is on March 5th, in New Haven, Connecticut. This tournament is similar to the last one, where there is nothing to lose but everything to win. The final tournament, our last shot, is right here in New York at the Javits Center. This is our final tournament and it takes place on the 12th of March. That is that date when we put everything on the line, everything that we have worked for to the test. I am confident in our robot and I believe that we have more than a fighting chance at success.
Thank you Liam, and good luck to the LREI HS Robotics team!
All the best, Ruth
Updates and Announcements:
HAIRSPRAY! February 24th, 25th and 26th at 7pm and 2pm on Saturday the 26th in the PAC at 40, Charlton Street. Tickets on sale Tuesday 16th at 8am in both school lobbies. $10 students and senior citizens, $12 for adults.
In 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad’s dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight. She then launches a campaign to integrate the show. HAIRSPRAY is not only a social commentary on the injustices of parts of American society in the 1960s but also a story of how a single person can make a change within a community. Tracy is a tornado of positivity and open mindedness that we follow as she navigates through high school and beyond.
LREI’s high school students have been working hard in rehearsals through this tough winter to bring you a spectacular show. We guarantee to warm you up and blast away the winter blues! This huge production, with larger than life characters and up beat numbers featuring our fantastic students should not to be missed. HAIRSPRAY is for the whole family and we sincerely hope you will come and support the many high school students and faculty involved.
Directed by Joanne Magee and Lorna Jordan.
Musical Director: Matt McLean
Choreographer: Peggy Peloquin
Set Design: Jorge Dieppa
Costume Design: Mark Caswell
Vocal Coach: Susan Glass
1. Red is Green: In February the Red is Green Committee will be recycling plastic bottle caps. We are collecting rigid plastic caps such as caps on shampoo, water, milk and other beverage bottles. Also, pharmaceutical lids, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles (such as ketchup and mayonnaise), and laundry detergents. When these caps are thrown away, they often end up in rivers and oceans with drastic consequences for both wildlife and the environment. The caps will be recycled through the Aveda plastic bottle cap recycling program. Caps can be dropped off in the collection bin in the 6th avenue lobby.
2. Please participate in the annual Room to Grow drive for babies born into poverty. Donations accepted at 6th Ave. Please click here for details.