William Floyd High School’s “Team 287” Robotics saw its “T-Shirt Bot” make its season debut throughout varsity football’s 36-29 victory over Longwood last month.
Advisors Joe Carpinone, Fred Luhrs and Joseph Brand, and key members Max Heitman and Alice Chen, spoke with The South Shore Press soon thereafter. They took the time out of “another day at the office” to reflect on their relaunch to kick off the school year, and to preview what’s in store moving forward.
Established in 1999, Floyd Robotics was the 287th team to join the global competition, hence their “Team 287” namesake. Today, over 10,000-plus teams partake in the official high school robotics circuit.
The club builds one robot per year for consideration in the second semester-spanning series. From January to June, “regionals”—consisting of about 50 teams in competition—are held as close by as Hofstra University, and as far as upstate.
“The competition setting provides an initiative for the students to work even harder and strive to learn their maximum potential about science and technology,” said Heitman. “Even if you’re not here every day 24/7 like some of the team members, you’ll still get a really niche valuable knowledge that looks amazing on your college applications.”
Once a team is given directions and instructions, from January to June they are off to the races.
William Floyd's next robot to enter will not be the T-shirt cannon that swept the student body and community at large by school-spirited storm. The “bot” was actually the product of 2021’s class—a machine then-students were able to put forth ample energy into due to the coronavirus pandemic canceling that year’s in-person competitive slate.
“They told us that to be a participant in the club that year, you had a couple options: one of them was, you could build a robot that could help benefit your community. So, the team and I sat down and decided to make this T-shirt bot, which we had thought of many years in the past but never had adequate time to [build],” Carpinone, a teacher in the district since 2005, reflected.
Carpinone says the typical season allows “six to eight weeks” for building; the silver lining found in the aftermath of COVID was an expansive 8-12 week window the team had to test, prototype and program a fierce as it is functional cannon fodder-provider made ready for use in an annual capacity.
“Every piece you saw go out on that field the other day was 100 percent manufactured in the classroom,” said Carpinone, “except the motors, which are a bought off-the-shelf item.”
Luhrs, a self-described “marketing hype man” for the T-shirt bot, said that for this latest event, he and the team meet up a day in advance to put together a game plan. During pre-setup, they make determinations on when to adjust some of the machine’s pressures—which comes into play when bringing robots to indoor events, especially.
With regard to last months game, the team pre-checked how many shirts they had, the establishments, gauges and air pressure before they were subsequently firing on all cylinders. “We look for downtime, lulls, timeouts to hype up the crowd,” said Luhrs. “It’s important to make it student-driven.”
Initially in operation as an afterschool club only, Floyd Robotics earned a class elective counterpart in 2022, when the district began offering the course to both club members and prospective recruits.
The media team also creates flyers to physically place around the school and digitally post to social media to drive interest. “We’re promoting what we are and what robotics can do for you, such as teaching you important collaboration skills, and building a community,” said Chen.
Brand teaches various classes and disciplines with a clear opportunity for overlap—for those who take advantage: “Computer Design. Coding. Electronics. Hands-on woodworking… it's cool to see them start out as 9th graders, see what they’re interested in, and develop their skills further from there [in the club].”
Carpinone and Luhrs commend category diversity within the competition. According to the faculty advisors, this provides robotics programs of all shapes and kinds with the notion that they too can bask in the glory of triumph as they break into a niche activity with grand scheme resonance.
“It’s all teamwork, there’s so many different facets to it… there’s one slogan, ‘the first robotic is more than just a robot. It has to do with the whole community, and who put this robot together,’” said Carpinone.
Adds Luhs, “I’m really impressed with the team and the inclusiveness.” He said that even those who are not the best at things like coding, per both the competitive and curriculum format, can seize a path to great victory and greater knowledge. “There’s something for everyone.”
“Coming into this club, I didn’t know anything about robotics. I didn’t know how to code, I didn’t know engineering. But definitely participating in the club and being able to be hands-on with the robot and have access to the software… they were able to teach me a lot,” Chen concluded.
Heitman recommends amateurs who wish to graduate beyond “novice” status watch the “official documentary” about the robotics program, called “More than Robots,” which is currently available to stream on Disney Plus. He also cites resources that offer greater depth like chiefdelphi.com as an influence, and mentions firstinspires.org, bluealliant.com, and frc.com for those interested in starting a team or finding nearby robotics events to consume.
He also believes forgoing traditional sports has given their lot a “head start going into the industry.” “It’s just a great experience,” he said, “and you’re not really missing out on sports, because it’s really a sport of the mind.”
Be on the lookout for more news updates on William Floyd High School Robotics’ “Team 287” as their season approaches.