Tea and Crumpets: A Summer in Science

Date: 4.6.14 Time: 10:00 Location: Greenwich, CT Another school year has passed, and that means another summer is here, ready to be filled with research, robotics, and writing.  This summer will be more mellow than last (i.e. no trips to Oxford to study deadly pathogens), but while the work this summer might be different, it does not make it any less important. Next year I'm going to be returning to Greenwich Academy, where I will be joining the FTC team RoboEpic.  I will also be taking a course on engineering and design, an independent research seminar, and will be joining the STEM interest group.  GA has a lot of great opportunities for a Science geek like me and I can't wait to take advantage of them, but until then I'll have to find other ways to make groundbreaking discoveries. I hope you are just as excited as I am about the next three months, and get ready, it's going to be an adventure.

Date: 8.3.14 Time: 15:00 Location: Greens Farms Academy Today DA Bots competed in the FTC CT State Championship, the Battle of the Beach, at Greens Farms Academy in Connecticut.  We were up against a big group of teams, many of whom we knew from previous competitions, including the Greenwich Academy team, RoboEpic.  We were all competing for a few spots to advance on to the Super Regional Tournament, the next level up in FTC competition.  After Super Regionals is the World Championship in St. Louis, and after going once before, I was really hoping to qualify again.   The morning began sort of haphazardly.  Since it was our first day of spring break, some of the team was not able to make it.  We also arrived at different times since some students went home the night before.  We had the last interview, but didn't feel as polished coming out of it as we had at the conclusion of our interview at Greenwich Academy.   Following our inte...

After two tough competitions, the Deerfield robotics team was awarded third place for the Inspire Award, the highest award given at FTC competitions.  With this award, the team will be advancing onto the State competition at Greens Farms Academy on March 8th.  While most people on campus don't know much about DA Bots, we were given a shout-out on the Daily Bulliten, the Deerfield website with all the important happenings of the school, and were suddenly the talk of campus! Link to article: DA Bulletin Article

Date: 11. 1. 14 Time: 17:50 Location: Greenwich Academy, Greenwich CT Today the Deerfield FTC robotics team, DA Bots, had their second competition of the season.  The competition was held at Greenwich Academy, my old school.  We had a great day, connecting with other teams from the Fairfield County area, including my old team!   We had a very successful interview.  Everyone in our group participated equally and we did a great job explaining our story to the judges.  We also were able to give a detailed explanation of the robot's functions, and the judges were impressed by our ingenuity and compact design.  We left the judging room feeling great. DA Bots hard at work during a competition round During competition, we were given great alliance teams and had great rounds.  On one round, we had a bit of a mishap when our robot totally got jammed and wouldn't move, but the other rounds went off without a hitch.  The other teams ...

Date: 12.1.13 Time: 15:30 Location: Deerfield Academy Usually during the winter term I ski for the Deerfield Ski Team, however this is a very large time commitment, something I do not have space for in my Junior Year schedule.  I decided to take the term to pursue other interests that would allow me more free time to focus on my schoolwork during such an important year.  As the founder of the Deerfield Robotics Team, I decided to take the winter term off to focus on robotics and help prepare the team for competition.  The FIRST FTC robotics competition is a serious time commitment, requiring many different components for a team to be ready for competition.  While Deerfield is a boarding school, and the presence of the team together at all times should effectively eliminate meeting time as a concern, department policy means that the team can only meet when a faculty member is present to supervise.  The teacher assigned to supervise the team, however, can on...

Date: 23.11.13 Time: 7:00 Location: Greenwich Academy, Greenwich CT FLL game board Today I volunteered as an MC at an FLL tournament at my old school, Greenwich Academy.  My old coach was hosting the event and so since it was my first day of Thanksgiving break and I would be free all day, I decided to help out.  It was so fun to be back involved in FIRST since I haven't been to a competition since 8th grade. It was a long day, starting at 7am and ending around 6pm.  Tons of teams came from all over Connecticut and New York, including four teams from Greenwich Academy and my brother's team. After wrangling teams all day and making sure competitions were finished on schedule, I got the opportunity to sit in on the judging.  It was so interesting being on both sides of this competition now.  I got to hear from official FLL judges that worked for FIRST what they looked for in teams and how the evaluated everyone.  I also got to see how the chose who...

Date: 21.10.13 Time: 12:00 Location: Greenwich Woods Nursing Home The summer before my sophomore year, I spent some time volunteering at Greenwich Woods, a nursing home.  This was a great experience and I very much enjoyed my time there, however you might be wondering how this experience would make its way into a Science blog.  This nursing home is special.  It uses a revolutionary robotic treatment device, a baby harp seal named Paro, in the treatment of Alzheimer's patients.  Developed by Takanori Shibata from Japan, Paro is designed to simulate a real baby seal, with heated synthetic fur and sensors that react to touch and sound, causing the robot to move and make sounds.  The lifelike movements of the seal calm the patients while also engaging them. Paro When I first volunteered at the nursing home, I worked for two weeks on the entertainment committee.  We played lots of games and I connected with many of the residents.  This Parents W...