Robotics.
I love building robots. I’m also learning how much the build depends on people feeling comfortable sharing an idea, changing their mind and trying again.
getting the team building again
When two competing robot designs split our team, we stopped making progress. People were defending their own ideas instead of working on the robot together.
I started talking with teammates individually between classes and over text, asking what they wanted from the build. Then we held a meeting with one rule: everyone got time to explain their idea. Within an hour, the standoff had turned back into a conversation. The laughter and ideas came back too.
We went on to build an Innovation Award-winning robot. As captain, that experience changed what I pay attention to. A healthy team dynamic is part of the engineering work.
room to break things
I also co-founded a robotics program through New HYTEs for students who might not otherwise get the chance to try it.
One eleven-year-old was upset after breaking his code. Helping him work through it reminded me what I want the program to give students: the confidence to try something, break it, and know they can build it again.
In the workshop.
A few looks at the robots, the testing space, and the work in between.
