Girls can build robots, too

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math program commonly called STEM is a hot topic in education. Continuously promoted, Hewlett High School’s Robotics Club has definitely recognized its importance.

The club consists of 32 members, three teams, and five adult mentors, including mechanical and electrical engineers, computer programming experts, business experts, and a physics teacher. Hewlett has three robotics teams: Innovo, Roboboogie, and Bionica. I am on Bionica, the new team with a twist. Bionica is an all-girls team, an uncommon occurrence in the science field.

“In addition to our two other teams, I decided to have a team of girls this year because I wanted girls to find out that making computer programs, testing sensors, electrical and mechanical troubleshooting, building robots, using saws/ drills/ hand-tools, designing mechanical parts with CAD software, printing those parts with a 3-D printer or a CNC (computer numerical control) machine is cool and is a lot of fun,” Team Coach Matthew Schildknecht, a physics teacher at Hewlett High School explained. “It’s not just something that boys do!”

Hewlett’s three teams participate in First Tech Challenge (FTC) run by the non-profit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST). FIRST promotes Gracious Professionalism, a policy of courtesy throughout the competition. Students were working hard these past few months, and it is finally time to reveal their finished robots at competition. On Jan. 19, Hewlett High School will be hosting the Long Island/New York City qualifier event. About 20 teams are competing for a few spots in the regional events.

“We have an excellent chance of winning our own tournament, and proceeding on to the NYC Regional Competition,” Schildknecht said. “Our hope is to make it to the world event in St. Louis this year. We just missed twice last year. We have a lot of seniors that want to make it this year — it’s their last chance.”

The girls’ team, Bionica, is not participating at this event but will automatically move up to the next regional round. However, Innovo and Roboboogie need to win in order to continue. Especially for the seniors, these competitions are extremely important.

“As a senior it’s my last chance to leave my mark on Hewlett Robotics,” Drew Beller said. “I’m determined to make it to the world championship even if that means I don’t get to sleep.”

In preparation for the competition, the builders created the robot while the programmers created a code to run the autonomous period of the game and a manual control. Learning new things is always exciting and this week the club visited Woodmere Middle School to inform eighth-graders about the club and encourage them to join as high school freshmen.

Hewlett Robotics is very proud of promoting STEM education in the high school, and in the community. The girls’ team is determined to make a difference and prove as young women that they too can take part in STEM.

Next school year, Hewlett High will be offering a Robotics course that will include focus on the programs RobotC and Solidworks. We have the amazing opportunity to learn skills that will benefit us later in our education. To anyone who ever liked building things, playing with toy gears, or programming Robotics is where you should be!