After school during the winter, Germantown Academy’s Upper School students convene in the Beard Center for Innovation for Robotics. Students from varying grade levels collaborate in groups to design a robot for the VEX Robotics Competition, presented as a challenge they must complete to the best of their abilities.
This year’s challenge is called “High Stakes.” In this challenge, there are rings scattered throughout a 12 foot by 12 foot field, and two teams compete against each other to pick up the rings and stack them on different types of stakes.
As each group builds, codes, and troubleshoots their robots, one group that has found success in their efforts is Team 8637A, consisting of GA Robotics veterans Nathan George ‘26, Luke Hu ‘25, Aarav Kevadia ‘26, Max Kopp ‘26, Tyler Tang ‘26, and Alex Wang ‘26.
On Jan. 25, they competed against other teams in the Southeastern Pennsylvania region. They won four matches, lost three, and they were also given the Build Award.
“It is awarded to a team that has a durable robot that’s able to withstand trials of matches, but also a robot that has careful attention to detail,” George said.
VEX Robotics competitions operate locally, by states, and internationally, with a world championship in May. For the next competition, George looks forward to his team receiving the Design Award, which would qualify them for states.
“Our goal for the season is to make it to worlds,” George said. “Last year, we were able to make it to states, and this year we’re going to do even better than that. To do that, we began designing our robot all the way back in May.”
For their design, Team 8637A focused on developing a unique approach to scoring the rings because they wanted to differentiate themselves among the other teams. Tang also used a laser cutter and 3D printer for certain parts, which he learned how to use from his Honors Engineering class.
However, their design approach left them with limited time to program an autonomous feature for their robot.
“Robots must run autonomously for 15 seconds within a match, and we spent a lot of time designing and working out the robot,” George said. “That’s just something that we have to learn from and take with us next year.”
Their close collaboration is key, as there are many factors that go into a successful robot. That’s why each member of Team 8637A has a designated role. For instance, George is the programmer, and other members such as Tang and Wang are builders. They dedicate a lot of time to Robotics, often working during lunch.
For Ms. Diane Goldstein, one of the faculty advisors of GA Robotics alongside Mr. Michael Rheam, she looks forward to team 8637’s future competitions.
“When you’re away for 12 hours for a school competition, you can only do that if you’re excited about their potential,” Ms. Goldstein said. “I was excited to see what that robot could do.”
This year’s Robotics season has also seen an influx of freshmen. Anushka Sen ‘28 of Team 8637E is among them, alongside teammates Erica Liang ‘28, Simran Kamal-Bahl ‘28, and Maya Patwardhan ‘28.
“None of us have a ton of experience so our goal is to build a robot that works,” Sen said. “We’re not aiming for states or anything like that, we just want to get the experience of building a robot.”
As the team becomes more familiar with building and programming robots, they also have to troubleshoot, which is a typical part of the process.
“We did build a robot that’s doing everything it needed to, but unfortunately it did not meet the size dimensions,” Sen said. “So one of our main goals right now is to make sure that it’s in the size that it needs to be so we can get it on the field.”
They are also implementing new ideas and features into their design.
“The build that we built was the basic hero bot: it’s what [VEX calls] it,” Sen said. “It gets the job done in the most simplest way possible, designed for new teams. So, we’re building a claw on the end of our robot as a way to kind of advance what was in the instructions and expand and do our own thing.”
Unlike other teams with experienced students, learning and change come quickly for the freshmen teams. For instance, Sen’s team frequently realizes that they built something wrong and must rebuild it. Regardless of learning actual robotics skills, Sen also reflects on the collaborative aspect of GA Robotics.
“You can’t do it alone,” Sen said. “You need other people because coming into this I was always a ‘do stuff on your own’ type of person. I didn’t necessarily have a lot of practice working with people in this kind of setting. So I definitely learned that you need to rely on your teammates, ask for help when you need it, and that every person counts.”
At the end of the day, GA’s Robotics program is an opportunity for students to collaborate under a common goal, where they learn valuable robotics skills and teamwork skills. Progress and success looks unique for each team, and students get a taste of the engineering world.