Sophie returns to Explo at Wellesley for her second session before entering ninth grade. She's interested in robotics and welcomes the chance to test out her own designs rather than following specific directions.
Today in Aerial Robotics, we worked on a robot that can go on a zip line. When we're all done, we'll race ours against other groups' to see which one goes the fastest and the farthest. Our basic design was a box with two wheels, one on the opposite side from the other. The challenge is to move through the course — we chose to ignore the zip line and use the beams on either side of it as the traction for our wheels.
I've done robotics before I came here, mostly in a robotics class I took at school. But I've mostly done mazes and wayfinding, not zip lining. And school is more following the book, while here it's more do-it-yourself. You have more freedom to make your own designs. At school we still had a chance at the end to make our own robots that did whatever. But here the designs you make still have to achieve certain challenges, so they matter more.
Liam Brooks