Autumn Years Winter 2023/24

lead at Becton, Dickinson and Company. Jared Warsoff is an independent audio engineer with Gray Moon Productions and Suraj Pandya is an electri cal system engineer at Axcelis Technologies. The Pi-oneers

ment.” Parents are asked how they might volunteer. If they get involved, they are vetted by the State of New Jersey. From the release of the game param eters in January, it takes six to eight weeks of work that is

involves refinements to make the robot competition-ready. Safety is paramount during the process. Jack also is a safety inspector for 3-, 12- and 30-pound ro bots in competition with the “battle bots” combat robotics league in Nor walk, Connecticut. While competitive, Pi-oneer robots perform in gentler arenas. At first, the world championship tournaments were held in Atlanta and then St. Louis; how ever, participation got so big that they were held St. Louis and Houston, later in Detroit and Houston. Costs add up, and the team is funded by the school district and corporate sponsors. It costs approximately $60,000 to build the ro bot and travel to local exhibits and state, regional and national competitions. Ma jor support comes from corporate do nors. However, “even $20 from grandma helps,” Jack says. The team can be seen locally at Town Days in Montvale and River Vale. In 2024, the team will be in competition in Flanders on March 2 and 3, and in Skillman on March 16 and 17. District championships are set for the first week in April, and the FIRST World Cham pionship is scheduled from April 17 to 20 in Houston, which will also host the 2025 competition. That April tournament will be the culmination of a process that began at the Pi-Tech jobs fair in the fall. “Any job is open to anyone—we will train them,” Jack says. “It’s more than the robot. We have MOD—Management Outreach and Design. Students might do website work, outreach publicity in the com munity, fund-raising and team manage

help others gain such mastery by men toring teams internationally. The team has had Zoom design and development meetings with teams in South Africa, Nigeria and Haiti, as well as helping four high schools in Rockland County, New York, create their own teams. The Pi-oneers work on other projects besides the competition robot. Jack talks about machine-assisted sports that use adaptive physical education devices. A former Pascack Valley High School stu-

begun after school, going to about 9 or 10pm each day until the robot is com pletely built. On top of this, there is homework, sports teams and music per formances. The students get academic tutoring help from team mentors rang ing from peers to adults. Pi-oneers help each other grow in a range of ways. “We find ourselves,” Jack says, noting that one young woman was planning to go into fashion design and now is the infrastructure project

The team’s robot from 2022 named Randall.

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WINTER 2023/24 I AUTUMN YEARS