Senior Alex Wei has been involved in robotics for four years. He has been on three different teams but has found a home as founder of the Parkway Central Nuts and Colts robotics team.
“I started in my freshman year out of pure curiosity back when I lived in NYC,” Wei said. While attending Townsend Harris High School, Wei participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition.
“It stands for ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,’ Wei said. “The competition is an annual, international high-school competition where robots play a themed game.”
These games include frisbee throwing and tower climbing. The teams have six weeks to build the robot with a given supply kit.
“After the six-week build period, there is a waiting period until the regional competition in that area,” Wei said. “Three finalists emerge from the regional, which then proceed to the championship. The championship this year, hosted in St. Louis, had around 400 combined national and international teams.”
When he moved his sophomore year, Central didn’t have a robotics team. Since he still had interest in robotics, he participated on the Parkway North team, the Robohobos.
“North’s team really helped me lock in how much I liked working with FRC, and the following year I went and formed a FRC team here at PCH,” Wei said.
Wei said FRC has helped him decided on a career in mechanical engineering. He believes that all of his experience in robotics will help him in his career.
“I was glad to realize that I had somewhat of a head start during some college visits, as most of the machines and ideas I had been working with were paralleled in the real world,” Wei said.
Not only has being on the robotics team helped him learn how to use equipment, Wei said he has also learned how to work with others as a team.
“Cohesive teamwork is essential in any team, especially with smaller robotics teams like the one we had this year,” Wei said. “Trying to organize the team here has shown me that it is never a one man show, and I feel lucky that I had that experience earlier, and not later,” Wei said.
