In our first installment of Hot Courses at SAS, Apple Yue '24 explains why you should join Intro to Robotics.
Image Credits: SAS
When we were given the opportunity to pick our electives last year in middle school, I was surprised that not many students going into freshman year had chosen the robotics course. Robotics requires the same amount of creativity and provides the same amount of fun as the other electives, yet it still remains underrated. I realize that robotics might be intimidating to those who haven’t had experience with it, but I’d like to encourage more students to join!
As a robotics student myself, even I was intimidated by what this course would bring, and the challenges I would come across. Although I had no background in robotics, I still decided to join this course. I enrolled in Intro to Robotics intending to try something new or even find a new hobby, which didn’t disappoint me later on as I find myself enjoying this course. We were provided the opportunity to extend our knowledge of robots, and even to build one ourselves. We explored coding and 3D design platforms and eventually moved on to building our first robots. Before joining Intro to Robotics, I had thought programming and building would be extremely challenging, but on the contrary, it turned out to be quite easy. As long as you take the chance to reflect on your learning as you would in any other class, you’ll do just fine. The fact that a couple of months ago I had no clue of how a robot just “runs” reminds me of how much knowledge I have gained from this course.
But learning and applying these skills is a long process. When I first joined Intro to Robotics in semester one, I had no idea what was going on. Often times I had found myself slacking off during class, and struggling to remember the content we’ve learned.
Maybe I was failing because I wasn’t as gifted in coding as the other students in my class, or maybe it was because I never reached out for help from my peers and teachers, but back then my project had been overdue for weeks, which was when I started failing this course. I decided to reach out to our teacher, Mr. Tiefel. And for understandable reasons, I had expected him to be infuriated with me, but instead, he was patient when helping me. Despite the remorse and shame I felt for turning in my assignment weeks past the deadline, I was appreciative of how understanding he was towards me. At that moment I understood that help would always be given at Robotics no matter how far behind you are.
Even after I’ve caught up with my projects, I still couldn’t agree more with how robotics gives intimidating vibes. Exploring something new is hard, especially when you’re in a community where you’re so afraid of underperforming. But when it comes to robotics, you shouldn’t stress over the upcoming challenges with coding and programming. Intro to robotics is definitely a course that’s friendly to all sorts of students. We learn about coding and 3D modeling from the basics, with guidance from excellent teachers such as Mr. Tiefel and Mr. Lourie. All you need to perform well in this class is your time and effort as opposed to “natural talent”. Robotics (especially Intro to Robotics) provides a safe learning environment where we can develop new interests. In the classroom, students can demonstrate great learning abilities, not merely in technology but also in collaboration with their peers. It’s undoubtedly a course that’s friendly to all groups of people, so even if you’re completely new to robotics, I strongly suggest that you give it a shot!
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