Very few students are intellectually curious enough to pursue an extensive project on their own time, both fueling their own interests and helping to pave a path for other interested students in the future. Margaret Sullivan ‘17 and Andrew Slomski ’17, two active members of the Wilmington Friends School Robotics Team, have decided to take it upon themselves to further explore the study of robotics. They collaborate to gain new knowledge and work to help “pilot a new elective about robotics that will be [held] in the new extension wing,” as Sullivan shares. They hope to become better roboteers, as well as establish a base of learning for those who wish to follow in their footsteps. Interest in robotics at Friends has grown considerably over the last few years, and WFS plans to create more opportunities for students to explore this area of study in the future.

It is no easy task to take up an independent project, and it definitely takes time and lots of dedication. When asked about why these two chose to take on the challenge, Slomski said simply, “I think it just came out of our interest in engineering and robotics.” The students realized that they could follow their interests through the independent study program, so they decided to apply for one. “It worked out,” he concludes, after the team seeked out Jenks Whittenburg and Matt Cauchy as faculty sponsors.

Sullivan and Slomski work together six times a cycle to design and experiment with different types of programs and robots. Although mostly focusing on the programming aspect of this field, the two occasionally work on other things like constructing and creating the actual robots. “We’re currently working on designing and building a new robot, which we’re planning to use to test out some of the programs we’ve written,” Slomski shared. He added that they had spent the past week or so making digital blueprints for the frame, and finally constructing it out of wood for a 3D replica.

So what is the point of all of this investigating and testing? Besides to feed their curiosity, they say they are working towards designing and creating a working robot that can autonomously adapt to its environment, while also carrying out the tasks they will have programmed it to do. This is made possible by experimenting with different sensors, such as ones sensitive to light, sound, infrared, touch, or proximity. In addition, the team hopes to become fluent in RobotC, the coding language they use to program their bots. The independent study will also help prepare the pair for the AP computer science exam this year.

An independent study takes a lot of dedication, curiosity, and organization to pull off, but the results can be tremendously rewarding. Sullivan shared that “you need to make sure you are really interested in the topic because it is easy to get distracted.” She adds, however, that “it is a pretty great experience because it allows you to design your own course so you can do whatever interests you.” The team concluded that they are so appreciative that Friends has these unique opportunities for students to further explore academic interests.