Robotics Club is starting up again within the next few weeks and it is the perfect opportunity for newcomers to get engaged and involved with what the club does. Robotics focuses everything on the process and parts of making a robot.

Ishan Swali, a senior and member of the Robotics club, said that the club is split into smaller parts each focusing on different parts of robot building. Swali is a programmer for the club and finds great enjoyment in the club, “I found it to be a lot of fun because I could immediately jump into any task and start learning.”

Many people have said that the club is easy to join. If you are a newcomer you don’t need to have a background in any robotics you just need to get involved. Jonathan Waters, a senior and programming team leader, said getting involved is super easy, “…you just need to show up and be willing to do stuff.”

Waters said the club gives you the information needed to succeed in STEM and robotics in general. He said there is a lot to learn, “…from soft skills like time management and collaboration to hard skills of designing, building, and programming a robot.”

Swali said the main goal is to teach newcomers, “…keep teaching new students but our goal is also to win a couple competitions.” These competitions are spread throughout the country with the club going to 3 regional competitions, “Tech Valley Regional, Robot Rumble, Finger Lakes Regional.”

To be involved in these competitions they would need to be at the club often. Swali speaks about a “pre-build season” and “build season”. He said it becomes much more of a commitment after the pre-build season, “Pre-build season is every Thursday, once build season starts in January it becomes daily.”

Newcomers are told not to worry about being completely committed to the team, though. Swali said that it is a club that you can just come and go in, “They can just show up to a meeting and hop into any project.”

Robotics is an accessible club, especially for newcomers, with the way you can come and go. With a main focus being on teaching new kids, it is a great learning opportunity.