Teaching high school students robotics, and inspiring STEM careers.
In 2014, I co-founded the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition team 5209: RECTIFY. RECTIFY’s mission was to teach high school students valuable skills, and inspire them to pursue STEM fields in college and beyond. For the team’s five year run, I was the head mentor. We had over 50 students throughout it’s history, and built five robots to compete in the competition. We primarily worked with students from High Tech High: Media Arts in Point Loma, CA. While it was my job to teach the students about engineering and project management, there were many skills I hadn’t yet learned that I was also expected to know well enough to teach. This lead to gaining the skill of learning quickly and deeply, from things like TIG welding aluminum for robot chassis to new sensor technologies and motor configurations.
Esteemed MIT professor, and co-founder of FIRST Dr. Woody Flowers taking a picture with our team and 2016 robot Warrior in the pits of the San Diego Regional
For reasons not fully understood, Dr. Woody Flowers felt the need to kiss our robot, saying, "If it works half as well as it looks, you guys are going to do great!" We did in fact do great, finishing fourth overall that year.
The drive team posing in our pits with the 2018 robot, RAM, at the Orange County regional.
An early image of RAM during build season. It was equipped with two elevators: one designed to lift yellow cubes eight feet in the air, and the other to lift two other robots (over 240lbs) a foot in the air on those folding platforms.
Our 2017 robot Legacy, lined up right before a match at the San Diego Regional. Perhaps our most complex robot, it sported two independent ball turrets, ground ball intake, large ball hopper, and a hook winch on the back that allowed it to climb rope.
A photo of RECTIFY on the final night of build season for 2017. Legacy has been bagged (a requirement of the competition) and all that's left is to celebrate.
Team photo in the pits at the San Diego Regional with our 2016 robot Warrior
The 2015 drive team with that year's robot: Uprising right before a match at the San Diego Regional.
A view of Uprising from behind the driver station on the field right after a match.
The one that started it all: 2014's robot Renegade. This photo of the team was taken at the end of our first San Diego Regional.