2021 Week 1-3 POVs

During the first three weeks, programming has been working to install coding software on everyone’s laptops, update the 2020 code to the 2021 infrastructure, and research possible pathweavers. This year’s challenge caused programming to focus more on autonomous coding, but none of us had prior experience. Luckily, we were able to arrange a code review with last year’s programming lead Maddie ‘20. I’m happy to say that I was able to learn a lot about the code. Personally, I have been able to get more involved with working on the robot, from troubleshooting to helping newer members get accustomed to the software we use. I’m excited to get more hands-on experience and see what we can accomplish.

Tiffany '22

My favorite part of this week has been working with Illustrator and communicating more with my team. Our group had a few technical difficulties that were easily resolved. We also shared many of our design ideas and opinions. I have learned more about Illustrator's tools and what it's like working in the business team. I look forward to working on this year’s graphic designs.

Ruth '23

Being part of the Innovation Challenge group, my teammates and I were challenged to think outside of the box in order to come up with a new invention. This has been difficult since we live in such a technologically advanced society, where almost everything we thought of already existed or was not feasible. We spent the past few meetings brainstorming, discussing, and narrowing down our ideas to just one product that creatively and realistically fits the prompt. I’m looking forward to seeing what designs we come up with for our invention this season.

Sarah '24

2020 WEEK SIX POVS

This week, my favorite part has been being able to work on Illustrator for the Team Structure graphic. I really enjoyed it because working with Illustrator allows me to be creative. Some challenges we faced were editing the article, but we all worked together and were able to accomplish it. I learned more about what goes on in business besides design. I was able to see how we interact with sponsors and construct the business plan. I look forward to Robot Reveal Night and being able to document it!

Dora '23

Programming has had the opportunity to test many mechanisms during Week 6. For example, I deployed the code to the flywheel mechanism and was able to test it successfully. A highlight of this week was definitely the success we found with the flywheel. Sometimes there were technical errors with the code, but with a lot of patience and determination, we solved them and were able to successfully test mechanisms. This week has been overall extremely busy and I learned more about time management and efficiency. I look forward to testing more mechanisms as the robot gets closer and closer to being finished.

Ushoshi ‘22

My favorite part of this week has been the knowledge my subcommittee, climbing, has gained from our extensive time on CAD and working with mentors. We have had many obstacles and difficulties because of our limited time, but we have made an effort to create a stricter schedule for our manufacturing time, coordinating with our members so that we are able to increase our efficiency. In the near future, we are looking forward to seeing our climb mechanism progress and come together!

Ziana ‘21

2020 Week Five POVs

Throughout the build season I have learned many new things. Through the guidance of mentors and veterans, I was able to push on SourceTree, and I have even started writing cpp and .h files for the robot. My favorite part this week was testing the code of an old robot. It was a great experience to see the code work on the robot, and I am looking forward to testing our code on this year's robot.

Mahek '23

My favorite part of Week 5 was when I got to write a letter and create a photo collage to thank one of our sponsors. It felt really great showing our appreciation to them and everything they've done for our team. A challenge I faced during this week was trying to find pictures for the photo collage, which was difficult because we took more videos than pictures, so I had to go and take several new pictures. I am looking forward to finishing manufacturing buttons and perler bows!

Melia '22

This week in electronics, I worked on the driver’s camera mounts and vision camera mounts. This meant that I had  to work with CAD all week, which was a challenge. However, I was able to embrace it and with the help of a fellow electronics member, the CAD for both camera mounts was completed. Throughout this week, I was able to expand my knowledge of CAD and realized the importance of flexibility in design!

Zainah '21

2020 WEEK FOUR POVS

So far my favorite part about this week was that we finally received our custom boards that the electronics components will be mounted on. We have been working on designing and CADing the boards since Week 2, so it was quite exciting for the entire committee when the boards arrived. Now that we have them, we are so much closer to reaching our goal of having a working robot by Week 5. I’m really looking forward to these next few days when the entire team will come together to help reach this goal. 

Della ‘23

In the past four weeks, our team has gone from scrambling around to finalize strategies and mechanism ideas to slowly bringing them all together and actually forming a concise plan of action. I’ve spent most of this week manufacturing the chassis, and I am glad to see that much progress has been made. Viewing and participating in this process from a leadership position has been challenging, but has also been thought-provoking and has given me the opportunity to learn so much throughout Build Season. 

Anjani ‘22

I have learned so much throughout Build Season! Because of the help the rest of the Business Committee, I have been able to step out of my comfort zone, and am now able to be confident in my work and my ideas of tackling certain tasks in new ways. Even though I am a veteran, I still have much more to learn—especially because I switched over from the Mechanical Committee to Business Committee this year to expand my knowledge on the team as a whole. For example, learning to use InDesign was extremely intimidating as I have never done graphic design; however, my business leads encouraged me to believe in myself, and I realized how similar it was to the CAD that the Mechanical Committee uses, which really helped me understand the program a lot better. I look forward to attending every meeting because I know I will learn something new every time!

Charlotte '21

2020 Week Three POVs

I am having an incredible experience with the Janksters. I've learned that communicating within the mechanical committee sub-groups, as well as with the whole team, is undeniably important. My favorite part of this week has been collaborating with other committees to see our prototypes work together and succeed. It was very satisfying because we all have faced many challenges with getting our mechanisms to become functional and reliable. The upperclassmen, especially in my sub-group, have taught me so much including CAD, basic construction, prototyping, tool use, and troubleshooting. I am so grateful to have them! Because build season means that I am usually spending five to six days in a row with the Janksters, being together so often has made me feel like this team is my second family, so I look forward to coming to meetings every time!

Shiori Kawaguchi Class of 2023

My favorite part about this week has been the opportunities I have had to grow with my teammates, as well as grow in my skills as a leader. With our new challenge this year, Infinite Recharge, we have had to look at different ways to mount our electronics boards to the robots. Through this, we have been able to think creatively about safely mounting and wiring our components to the robot. 

Emily Gelke Class of 2021

This build season has been very similar to last year’s build season in terms of challenges with communication. The mechanical committee is still in the process of increasing communication between subgroups to aid with integration between mechanisms. As we approach week 4 of build season, integration between mechanisms will become increasingly important. However, despite the stress of build season, I enjoy working with my subgroup and interacting with students of varying grade levels.

Bella Padget Class of 2020

2020 Week Two POVs

Build season is an amazing, but challenging experience. I like how it is my own job to balance my school work and robotics, as it gives me a sense of responsibility, and I feel proud of what I’m able to accomplish when I set my mind to it. It is amazing being able to think of the Janksters as another family, and I always look forward to contributing something to our team.

Alana Choy Class of 2023

My favorite part of build season so far is designing the mascot because I have the opportunity to use my artistic abilities. There are several obstacles we come across while designing the mascot. One of them is that our design is too heavy and bulky, which causes many problems since we would have no way of easily transporting and storing the mascot. To solve this we are thinking of a similar, but more logical design that makes the mascot lightweight, flexible, and easily transportable. I look forward to planning out the details of the mascot and making other promotional items such as buttons and T-shirts.

Nancy Liu Class of 2022

This year, all the committees seem to be more organized and efficient. Electronics is working proactively on preparing our components and printing our 3D mounts, so I expect a smoother build season compared to last year. I'm working through some issues with the 3D printer so that later on, all necessary adjustments are made. I’m working closely with mentors on this issue, so I’m learning a lot about troubleshooting on 3D printing and the different materials that we print with. I am looking forward to an efficient but less stressful build season this year.

Sarah Williams Class of 2021

The Programming Committee is having quite a productive week. They are installing new software, setting up new MacBook Driver Stations, starting to write robot code, and researching new sensors they’ll be using. The Chassis Programming Team has successfully written and finished the driving code. They are now currently working on color-sensing code—as well as vision code—to detect objects on the field, while building off skills from last year. Build season is running smoothly for the programmers, with them making tremendous progress!

Maddie Waldie Class of 2020

2020 Week One POVs

During the first week of Build Season, I learned how to prototype. My favorite part of this week was learning how to use the 3D printer. It was also interesting to see how CAD is used to design the 3D printed parts. This week has been exciting because I was able to see the progress everyone from each committee has made with their projects. I look forward to learning much more throughout the rest of Build Season.

Myiesha Shaikh Class of 2023

This year's kick-off, as a sophomore and the team's rookie liaison, was a whole new experience compared to last year's, when I was a freshman. My favorite part was using my experience from freshman year to help this year's rookies have a smooth transition into build season. What helped me personally understand the new game during kick-off, was the mock match, where we set up a life-size field in the gym and pretended to be robots. I was really able to comprehend how the game worked by playing it myself. I can't wait to take on this new challenge during the rest of build season.

Layla Qumsieh Class of 2022

Week one of build season has been a learning experience for all of us. One aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed was prototyping possible mechanisms for this year's challenge, Infinite Recharge. I learned about new mechanisms, specifically a flywheel, that we could include on the robot. My favorite part was brainstorming possible designs for our t-shirt. Being in a new leadership position, I am looking forward to designing the shirt and getting to know my committee’s new members.

Ria Nair Class of 2021

BUILD SEASON WEEK 6 POVS

Build season is coming to an end, and the results of our time and effort spent brainstorming and designing are finally becoming seen. In the chassis subgroup, we spent most of Week 6 manufacturing and putting together the final touches for the base of the robot. This week has helped me become more efficient and precise in completing my assignments and making sure to communicate with veterans or mentors about any confusion that I may have. As a whole, this has been an extremely informative and fulfilling experience, and I'm looking forward to the tasks that await!

Anjani Gadkari Class of 2022

My favorite part of build season was programming the robot’s pistons. I enjoy learning new programming concepts and building problem-solving skills. I look forward to seeing the robot because everyone has worked really hard to build it.

Dania Hanif Class of 2020

I learned a lot this build season and improved my problem-solving and task management skills. It’s hard to juggle multiple projects at once and make sure everyone is communicating, but my friends and mentors’ help support me and each other. My favorite part of build season is when a particularly difficult problem finally gets solved! It’s very gratifying when we overcome a task that throws a new issue at us every few minutes. These past few weeks, I’ve also learned about the specifics of building a robot, such as wiring ultrasonic sound sensors to measure distances. I can’t wait for the rest of the week so we can finish the robot and be ready for competition!

Libby Barrese Class of 2020

BUILD SEASON WEEK 5 POVS

As a part of the electronics committee, I have learned about how crucial it is to communicate with other committees. Although I did have some struggles with trying to keep everyone on board, I learned how to effectively and succinctly collaborate with people outside of electronics, which is a great life skill. I enjoy working with others and that makes build season more enjoyable. Next week, I definitely look forward to seeing a finished robot!

Ameera Chughtai Class of 2022

This week in electronics, we finished both our horizontal and vertical boards. One challenge that we faced was trying to figure out how to mount our vertical board. We tested many prototypes but eventually found that using extrusion would be the best solution. Next week, I look forward to mounting all of our components onto our boards and assembling them onto the real robot.

Ahlyssa Santillana Class of 2021

I spent a lot of this week working with my teammates to debug code, though we faced many challenges along the way. For example, the program would stop running if it wasn't detecting any vision targets, and occasionally the distance the program read between the camera and the vision targets was infinity. However, with a lot of hard work and questions to our mentors, we eventually fixed these errors and had lots of fun while doing it.

Angela Zheng Class of 2020

I spent a lot of time organizing and creating gifts for our mentor Valentine’s Day party. I learned a lot about design and communication with leaders and other members of the team. My committee is also putting together our team's giveaways, bows, and buttons. Build season has been fun, and I look forward to seeing the team’s finished product.

Emily Duh Class of 2019

2019 LEAD POVs

My favorite part of doing the LEAD workshop was being able to interact with seventh-grade girls and talk to them about the robot. It was really nice to see young girls so interested and engaged in learning more about robotics. I learned that showing the girls our robots was a great way to get them engaged in STEM. I hope that the message of being inspired and having a willingness to learn about new things sticks with the students.

Cailin Le Class of 2021

I am so glad that I was able to participate in LEAD for the first time this year! During LEAD, I guided the 7th graders around our robotics rooms and introduced them to each committee. All of the girls were extremely kind and curious about robotics. I was happy to help them by answering any questions they had about our team. Overall, I am glad that I participated in LEAD and helped the girls learn more about our robotics team, the Janksters!

Ananya Thapar Class of 2021

For the third year in a row, I presented at LEAD Day and provided 7th grade girls with an introduction to our robotics team. I was also responsible for teaching the girls how to drive our 2018 robot, Lola, giving them each a turn to operate her. My favorite part was seeing the initial fright of driving a 160-pound robot melt away and turn to pure excitement. Intrigued by our robot's design and the team's structure, the girls had a number of great questions, which I had the opportunity to answer. Overall, participating in LEAD Day allowed me to grow my presentation and demonstration skills and serve as a role model to girls interested in STEM, while also having fun!

Maddie Waldie Class of 2020

Build Season Week 2 POV

The second week of robotics was very fulfilling, and I enjoyed growing my programming knowledge. I spent a lot of time learning how to create classes and how to use pointers in C++. With the help of the programming leads, I had the opportunity to apply my newly acquired skills in a fun and supportive environment.

Ridhima Prashanth Class of '22 

My favorite part of this week was when my subgroup came up with a solid design for our mechanism. At first, we had a few ideas that all could have potentially worked, but had trouble figuring out which one would be the most consistent. We identified the pros and cons of each mechanism. I learned a lot about robotics and the different aspects that go into deciding what can and can’t work for the robot. This week, we also started on our prototyping and will test to see if it works. Next week, I look forward to finalizing our prototype and starting on the final mechanism.

Sophia Contos Class of '22 

Throughout the second week of build season, my subcommittee and I have been working hard to brainstorm creative ideas and develop them through prototyping. We are working on intaking and outputting cargo, and, through the process of addressing this challenge, I have learned how to communicate more effectively with my teammates and mentors. I have also learned a lot about robot research, drawing inspiration from robots used in past challenges to introduce promising ideas to our team brainstorms. Next week, I am looking forward to mechanizing our complex prototype, which will help my subcommittee and the rest of the team soon decide how to proceed with the spacing of the different components on our robot.

Leela Mukherjee Class of '21 

We have been preparing various electronic components and training our rookies in CAD. We also started to work on possible improvements for the battery cart and driver station, in anticipation of competition. I learned about a new method for crimping CAN wires, which was challenging at first, but I eventually understood how to do it properly with the help of mentors. Electronics will now be using that method to crimp CAN wires, and possibly other types of wires, too.

Srija Ponna Class of '20 

Build Season Week 1 POV

My first kick-off was one to remember! My favorite activity was the mock match, where some of the students had to pretend to be the robots on the field and some were human players giving the cargo and hatches to the “robots.” One of the challenges I had with the game, since I was a “robot,” was acting out realistic things the robot would do, and also taking into account the game rules. I asked mentors when I didn't understand a game rule and they clarified what I could and couldn't do during the match. My strategy for acting like an actual robot was to imagine that a person was telling me directions one by one.

Jade Lara ‘22 

One of my favorite parts of kick-off this year was when we started brainstorming and prototyping for the robot. I enjoy thinking of possible things the robot can do and knowing what we work on now may be used for the actual robot. One of the challenges I faced was the mock game in general because I was very confused with the game and how the scoring works and I wasn't sure what to do. In the first mock match, I played the human player and was able to watch what the other “robots” did so I could understand the game better. I also learned how to prototype larger ideas and turn something that was a thought in your head into reality.

Mia Levy ‘21 

During kick-off this year, I was facilitating different stations such as robot idea brainstorming and mock competitions, and helping out groups whenever and wherever necessary. It was a bit challenging to offer useful advice and suggestions for the countless brainstorming ideas, and wander around to help groups. However, the autonomy I had allowed me to learn to guide my teammates through prototyping and design thinking, as well as grow my leadership skills.

Mehal Sharma ‘19 

Week 6 Build POVS

This past week, I was able to learn a lot more about the Jetson and all of the systems that are working in it.  I also improved my teamwork skills with the two other members of my subcommittee.  I was also able to exercise my knowledge of trigonometry and C++ while figuring out how to improve our vision code.

Yiyun Wei Class of 2021

During Week 6, business was busy planning upcoming events, finishing up awards and updating the website. I have gained several important skills throughout the build season, including responsibility, leadership, and communication, and it was exhilarating to see all of our hard work pay off. Even though we faced many challenges along the way, we had the invaluable experience of learning from ourselves and others, which made it all worth it in the end.

Elizabeth Fernandes Class of 2020

The past week started off pretty chill. For me at least, it was mostly prepping for the arrival of the electronics boards, such as gathering parts and planning, and helping some other committees here and there. But now that the electronics boards have arrived (at least the vertical ones), we have a lot of more work to do. The pace has picked up, and now we are in more of a hurry to put components on the boards.

Cynthia Chung Class of 2019

Week 3-5 Build POVS

Through weeks 3-5, we pretty much made the whole robot. It was super fun watching the robot come to life from drawings in a notebook to a real-life robot. In these past couple weeks, I have learned so much about CAD and everything else in mechanical.

Ella Hedman

Class of 2021

Build season has been a mix of fun and intense. I am a co-lead of the In n' Out group and for the past few weeks we've been focusing on the finishing up our CAD and manufacturing and assembling our mechanism. It's been really great teaching Leela, the rookie in my group, new things, especially in CAD. I've grown really close to the other members of my group too.

Lily Johnson

Class of 2019

These past few weeks, the programming committee has made a lot of progress with vision tracking, autonomous, and game component code. Each group is working on something new for this year, and it's really exciting to be involved in the technical growth of our committee. I'm in the vision tracking group and we just finished finding the distance from the camera to the reflective tape. We hope to find the angle from the camera to the tape and connect the Jetson to the roboRIO in the next few weeks, and I can't wait to see our code run on the robot.

Elaine Duh Class of 2018

Week 2 Build POVS

Electronics has been quite busy this week. We've made great progress on our CAD for our boards, though the design has ended up being changed, and on our CAD for several other components we had to work on. I personally have been working on the horizontal electronics board and, from time to time, fixing up the programming robot for Programming to be able to test their code. Build Season is definitely getting more intense now, but I'm still really excited to see how it all turns out in the remaining upcoming weeks.

Srija Ponna Class of 2020

For the past week in the programming committee, we've been working on a couple of different projects. There's one group working on programming the different game components on the robot, another autonomous focused group, and a vision tracking group that's working on integrating the Jetson TX1 with our robot. I'm in the autonomous focused group and we've just started working on a PID controller with the gyro to accomplish some of the various turns in our autonomous routes. This is around the time of the season in which I've begrudgingly adapted to school being my primary home, and so far, it's been a fun couple of weeks.

Anisha Kabir

Class of 2019

Week 1 Build POVs

This year's Kickoff was the first I'd attended, yet it wasn't difficult to feel closely involved with the process - we all had the opportunity to brainstorm prototypes for this year's robot, and doing so really helped me think critically about the game and the potential mechanisms that could be used. During the week, my prototyping groups came up with a mechanism resembling a hug, a system using rollers to move the power cube, and others; after that, my committee (programming) set to work getting all of our devices up to speed for this year's game, and considering potential sensors to implement and how to code them. Many people envision robotics as the frantic rush of physically constructing a robot, but this week allowed us to experience the careful planning and diversity of ideas that go into creating a viable design, which is just as critical.

Sandhya Ganesan Class of 2021

Week one was extremely fun because my group (intake-- output) got to prototype and test different ideas. We made a list of requirements of what we want our mechanism to do. We also built prototypes and had a lot of mentors to help us out!

Shivani Vazirani Class of 2020

The first week of build season has gone by really fast. Electronics has been doing  research about sensors that we might be using for this year’s game while mechanical finishes prototyping. We’ve also been working on small projects that branch out from electronics which has been engaging and fun. This year’s game is really interesting and I’m looking forward to our strategy and seeing how other teams plan theirs.

Emily Duh Class of 2019

Week 6 Build POVs

It's crazy thinking that this is my last build season! Week 6 means crunch time so we're all scrambling to make last minute decisions and putting the finishing touch on our robot. It's really different this year for me since I'm on Business now instead of Mechanical so the stress of putting actual items on the robot isn't as big for me. However, there's still a lot of planning and details that need to be worked out for my assignments. I can't believe my last Build Season is coming to a close. It's been an interesting one definitely but I'm glad I got to know my teammates better and gain new skills. 

Minh-Chau DoanClass of 2017

This week, we have mostly worked on manufacturing parts for our second robot and making some final decisions and changes. It has been really stressful, but all the chaos is exciting at the same time. It’s strange that I'm already about to end my third build season and I can tell that I have grown so much since freshman year.

Nikita JagdishClass of 2018

Plagued with a mixture of nerves and excitement, I remember heading to kickoff at San Jose State, just six weeks ago. Now, after countless hours of trudging to school, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want more time! After finishing driving and manual two speed transmissions code, our chassis programming group’s latest challenge is working on programming automatic two speed transmissions. We've been working on mapping the correlation between joystick values and encoder rates for driving our test robot. I’ve also been working on combining all of this season’s code into one comprehensive project, a task that has been tedious but rewarding to complete. Though it’s exhausting, the moments of success, growth, and joy that pop up during the rigor and intensity of build season are what constantly reinforce my love for robotics.

Anisha KabirClass of 2019

On week 6 of Build Season, I mainly focused on CADing the front and back camera mounts and had help from Ayusha, Becky, and our mentors. Because there was some last-minute updates about the mounting place of the camera, each of the camera mount had to be modified several times. Although we had to build several versions of each of the two different camera mounts, my skills in CADing had improved a lot, my critical thinking in designing a mount has improved, and my confidence in CADing has grown. Now that Build Season is coming to an end, I feel that the excitement is starting to lower down, but I am looking forward towards the Steamworks competition.

Michelle VanuyClass of 2020

Week 5 Build POVs

It has been a really fun and productive week. I worked on the Robot Reveal Night agendas and invitations, which improved my skills in InDesign.

Elizabeth FernandesClass of 2020

This week we mostly worked on the Janky bot. We finished the two electronics boards and mounted them onto Janky bot so that Mechanical could test out their mechanisms. We also worked on pneumatics and encoders on the programming chassis so Programming could test out their code for those on the programming chassis.

Srija PonnaClass of 2020

Week 3 Build POVs

Week 3 was really busy because we did a lot of decision-making about designs and mounting but it was fun because I also learned more about CADing and mating parts.

Maya KesapradistClass of 2020

This week, I learned how to CAD and 3D printed the robot's battery mount. Miranda and I designed a structure on CAD that held and strapped the battery in place. This was my first experience designing and creating something that would go on the robot.

Emily DuhClass of 2019

I helped teach rookies how to code and work on different projects with accelerometers. Lately, I’ve used resources a lot to look at different accelerometers and do more research to learn about them.

Tani PhamClass of 2018

Week 2 Build POVs

Working on photography and videography this build season is exciting because I get to see how the team progresses with the robot through photos and videos while doing what I love.  I could never have imagined a better way to showcase my editing skills and creating weekly recap videos has allowed me to express my enthusiasm for build season.

Clare TanClass of 2017 

I've been learning a lot about encoders and it's been fun working with magnetic encoders and gearboxes. Week 2 has been pretty busy but I've been getting used to Build Season.

Srija PonnaClass of 2020