>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Well, our connection this hour is made in a series of headlines.

Here's one of them.

Local robotics teams celebrate successes, prepare for future competitions.

Here's another Saratoga High robotics teams take top honors in multiple competitions.

And here's a third from one day ago.

Sam Altman revives OpenAI robotics team after five years, while robotics clubs may not get the kind of media attention that, say, a school football team might.

Attention on robotics seems to be ramping up in recent years, and I kind of wonder if any of that has anything to do with the advancement of AI, artificial intelligence.

According to the article about OpenAI, Sam Altman's company is ramping up its robotics ambitions with a major hiring drive.

The goal is to hire engineers who can build robots that can operate in the physical world and be, quote, useful for society, end quote.

Here's more from that piece.

Quote.

According to Altman, the emphasis at OpenAI is on building robots, which can help people with the task of building infrastructure like data centers, power grids, factories, and other such facilities.

As more and more computational power for AI becomes necessary.

The requirement for construction projects also increases, according to Altman.

In the future, there will be one robot per individual that will be capable of performing everyday activities for him or her, end quote.

It's Rosie from The Jetsons.

We're headed that way, and I don't know how much robotics competitions are going to take us there, but I wonder how the students see all of this change.

I wonder how their mentors see all of this change.

What role do today students feel like they have in the future?

And what's the human element to all of this?

We're going to talk to the Rochester City School District students who've been working on robotics here.

They're gearing up for the second annual RCSD Flower City Frenzy Robotics Competition.

It's going to be held Saturday at East High School, and it is a big deal.

We have a packed show, two full groups of students and mentors.

I'd like to welcome the first group in the studio with us now.

Hello, Vicki Robertson, first robotics mentor for the X-Cats at Wilson Magnet High School.

Welcome.

Nice to see you.

Thank you for being here.

Next to Vicki is Sheldon Cox, executive director of Career and technical Education at the Rochester City School District.

It's great to have you.

>> Great to be here as well.

>> Across the table.

Shari Colon is a sophomore at Padilla High School and a member of the mechanical build team for XQ Robotics.

Welcome to you.

Hello and welcome to Daniel Newland, who's a senior at Padilla High School and also a member of the electrical programing team for SSC robotics.

Thanks for being here.

>> Thank you.

Glad to be here.

>> So, Vicki, a big event coming up on Saturday.

We're going to talk to you guys about that in a moment here.

But you've been mentoring on robotics for like ten years.

Yes.

Ten years ago, nobody would have been talking.

Very few people in my world would have been talking about AI.

And now, like everybody's talking about AI, has this affected what you're doing and what students are doing?

>> Um, there's been impacts when ten years ago, when I first started mentoring, we already had an autonomous part of the robotics game, but it was mostly done by a lot of programing and guessing.

And now the autonomous is done with the Pathfinder program that uses AI and makes that that part of the competition a lot more achievable for more teams.

Um, so that's been one change.

They also let us use that in some of the essay writing for, um, the awards and stuff.

Um, definitely helps in grammar checking and all those things.

>> But has any of it affected how much students themselves have to learn and has any of it reduced how much student learning is going on?

>> I don't think so, no.

Not with what?

Not with the rules we have.

The students are still actually writing code.

We're not having AI generated code.

The students are working side by side with mentors.

That's the magic of first, is that students work side by side with a mentor to build the robot and code it and design it and everything.

>> Absolutely.

And that's been the model.

Are you worried about the future given AI, or does AI make you more optimistic?

>> I wouldn't say it makes me more optimistic.

>> But you work in robotics.

Can't you sell it for me a little?

No.

>> Not really.

No.

I think there's aspects that are scary.

I think there's aspects that are good tools.

And as long as we can find the right guide guard guardrails, that we can use it as an effective tool.

It's a good tool.

But if we ignore those things, ignore the warning signs, then yeah, it's kind of scary.

>> Well, look, we're not going to spend the whole hour on AI.

Thank goodness we are going to talk about the wonderful work that these students are doing.

I'll just ask the students briefly when you think about the future.

So, Daniel, um, how long have you been working on robotics?

When did you get started?

>> I started this year, started in October.

>> Okay.

Are you enjoying it?

>> I am, yes, it's actually given me a lot of opportunities to build skills like that I didn't have before.

Like teamwork and communication.

And it's been a really fun experience.

>> So when you think about future work, do you have an idea of what you think you want to do in the working world?

>> I do, I plan to, my career is not really a robotics career that I have planned, but it does use robots.

>> What is it?

>> It's myrmecology.

It's a specific branch of entomology, with myrmecology studies, specifically ants.

>> Wow.

Awesome.

I mean, that's a whole other conversation with you and how you got into that in the first place.

I think that's really, really cool.

Does AI make that career more possible for you or less?

>> I don't really like to rely on AI.

Mhm.

I don't believe that AI is always correct.

So I don't really prefer to.

>> You trust the human element.

>> I do.

>> I dig that.

Um, well, and coming up here, we're going to talk about what Daniel's been working on, uh, for the Flower City frenzy here.

Shari, um, how long have you been working on robotics?

>> Um, I came into robotics, like late December, so I came in a bit later than Daniel and the rest of the.

The crew did.

>> Like six months or so, something like that.

>> Yes.

>> Okay.

How's it going?

>> I actually enjoyed it very much.

Um, compared to like other clubs that I have joined, I think I must stay pretty consistent with robotics.

I actually learned that I actually really loved the coding part that involves with like making the robot.

It's, it's very thrilling for me.

>> Well, and you know, you're a sophomore, you don't have to have the whole life figured out just yet here, but do you have a sense for what you think you want to do in the future?

>> I want to get into the medical field.

>> In the medical field.

Does AI make that more or less possible for you?

>> I don't think AI is able to comfort people the way humans can.

>> Oh boy, I agree with you there.

That's good.

That's good stuff.

You know, Sheldon Cox was saying before the program began that what you're trying to do at the district is make sure whatever the passion is of a student, they've got a path to do something as hands on as possible to explore it.

Tell me how robotics comes in on this.

>> So a robotics competition or robotics gives students a chance who are not necessarily interested in sports but have another passion, whether it be programing or building or any of those areas.

Robotics competition is just a way to set up.

It's just an amazing set up.

The mentors and it's a huge.

I got to give a huge shout out to all the mentors who participate in this process.

If it wasn't for them and the coaches at the schools, it's the only way I can sustain the program.

And now we went from having two programs that the city school district.

Now we have four robotics teams in the city school district, and we hope is that every student can have access to the robotics competition.

And we also do Lego competition, esports, um, girls who code, all the different enrichment opportunities that just kind of give students an interest in their potential career, such as coding or robotics or manufacturing or building and, or if they were into any field that they would not traditionally get into.

So traditionally, women are not interested in not getting into robotics teams.

So opportunities like this give more nontraditional students opportunities into those careers.

>> Yeah, it's cool stuff.

And, you know, I certainly take the point that first and foremost, what you're trying to do is make sure that students know that if you have a passion, you want it to be to flower, you want it to be able to grow.

I think a challenge for school officials, for teachers, for parents who are trying to help guide children in the future, is trying to figure out at this moment what robotics and what artificial intelligence is going to do to possible careers.

And I have no idea.

I mean, there's a lot of predictions and it's not great.

You know, I mean, it's it's really challenging.

You.

Go ahead Becky.

>> I really disagree with you on that because.

>> Please, I hope somebody disagrees.

>> I think that, um, what they're learning in robotics, I don't care whether AI takes over the Python coding that they're doing by learning Python coding.

They're learning logical thinking.

And that's important beyond AI.

>> And you're saying the skills that they're building are going to travel with them.

>> They're going to they're.

>> Learning.

>> They're learning cooperation.

One of the elements of First robotics is that, um, individual teams compete in an alliance of three.

So these kids who often come to us not really wanting to talk to anyone, have to talk to each other to determine strategy, to plan, do all those things even during the competition with complete strangers.

They build up to that by working together in subteams in the team.

I mean, at X-Cats we have a phrase we build people, not just robots.

>> No, I love that.

And you're absolutely right.

I mean, you have to be able to.

Teamwork is going to be a required skill in just about anything you do.

I think I'm just observing that if a student or my 14 year old, if he comes to me and says like, what's like a safe field for me to get into, I'm going, I don't know, man, I don't, I don't know.

And that's what scares me.

I feel like a generation ago, I would have been able to describe it better.

And now I don't know.

That's what I get nervous about.

>> Yeah.

Well, I, I think if you want to get a fields that AI cannot replace are things that are using the human imagination and the uniquely human things that we do.

>> And both of the students talked about that.

So they're on a good path themselves.

By the way, Shari, do you think in general, AI is going to be good for society or bad for society in general?

>> In general?

>> Yep.

>> I have to say bad, even though there are some advancements that come with AI overall, the downsides that come with it, as in the pollution and overall, like it's making people distant.

It's very.

>> Distant from each other.

>> Yes.

Yeah.

People are so attached to AI just being right there at their convenience.

It's, it's making them quite lazy.

>> It's a very interesting observation, by the way, when Sam Altman says everybody in the future is going to have their own AI robot assistant to do anything you want to do.

Do you do you want that?

Like, is that.

>> No.

>> I'm like, that's what I want to ask some of these tech executives, like, do you think people like all want, I don't know, I mean, maybe Daniel wants it.

Do you want like an AI assistant doing everything for you?

>> Not necessarily.

I think if everybody has an AI tech assistant, they'll eventually they'll, they'll, they'll lose the brain capacity to do things.

>> There you go.

>> Because they'll have other they'll have AI doing it for them.

So they won't really have to do it.

So they don't need to continue knowing how to do it.

>> I like get stuff done off the high shelves.

Like I'm good with that.

But like, you know, the rest of it, like I think I can figure out for myself.

No, it's just it's interesting.

Um, so let's talk about what's coming up on Saturday.

The Flower City frenzy is a first robotics competition.

It's an officially an off season event here.

Yes.

And the way they advertise this is high speed robots in action.

Can people come and watch this?

>> Absolutely.

>> You want people to be there.

100%.

>> And it's.

>> Free.

9 a.m.

To 6 p.m.

At East High School.

So it's all day at East High School.

It's free to get in.

>> Yep.

And it's more than just the robotics competition.

Um, so stop in and see the robotics competition.

I got to be honest, if you don't have a team or, or a stake in it, you don't want to watch it for more than an hour or so.

Um, because the matches are very short and they keep going and yeah, so, but.

>> That's a fun hour, right?

>> Very fun hour.

It's a very cool hour.

And you see the action.

But what's more important is you can go out to the pits, which is what we call the area where people repair and fix their robots, talk to the students, say, hey, why did you build it like this?

How's this mechanism work?

And it's great, you know, for younger kids to come out and see what these older kids are doing.

We are also going to have some specific activities for younger kids, like a giant Jenga tower or, um, balloon powered cars, little cars.

They can make.

And lots of Legos to play with.

So there'll be activities for younger kids and we'll have demonstrations of the other layers of first robotics, which is the first Lego league for the elementary school kids.

And the first tech challenge, which is middle school and also high school kids.

>> And so again, 9 to 6, there's food trucks on site.

I mean, like, it's kind of a party if you haven't been, there's, it's high energy.

And, um, if, if people have not seen a competition like this, how do you describe the experience?

>> It's, it's a thing, it's, it's, it's, and that's, that's basically explained when I went to the first competition at our I, the people are dressed in colors and lights and they're supporting their teams.

Everyone is so supportive of each other.

All the team players, they're all cheering for each other.

Of course, they're cheering for their team to win, but they all supporting the the group that's going.

It's.

Everyone is cheering.

Everyone is happy.

Everyone's um sharing their knowledge.

That's what I expect to.

What's really surprised me is everyone's so willing to share, hey, this code worked for me here or this part makes you work or your robot can lift easy.

And then we can just take my shoot easier.

So let's team a team up together and work together, and then score the most amount of points.

So it's, it's really competitive.

It's really collaborative.

It's real fun.

People are really into each other and it's great.

It's great experience.

>> I'm gonna have Vicki describe how the competition works in terms of what is the task that they have to set out to do and take me through that a little bit?

>> I'm going to before we go into that, I want to follow up on what, um, Sheldon said, because Shadi and Daniel have a great example of that gracious professionalism that went on at this year at RIT.

And maybe you guys want to talk about some of the help you got from other teams and stuff.

Yeah.

>> Well, following with the gracious professionalism, I was honestly really shocked.

I didn't expect the people to be so nice and willing to help.

Like a few times I had to go to other pits to ask for like materials that we didn't have, like extra bumper coverage because we ended up running out.

They were actually really willing to actually help us.

Like all we had to do was ask and they were willing to give.

It was it was amazing to see.

>> Yeah.

>> I do remember one team, 10 to 23, the Crimson Jewels.

They came over with their code for their robot because we had the same robot and they helped us with our coding because ours was not working very well.

So they came over with their coding, put it into our robot, and they helped get us.

They helped us get our robot running smoothly.

>> Were you surprised they were willing to do that?

>> I was.

>> Would you have been willing to do that for someone else?

>> I would.

>> Yeah, that's good.

That's good stuff there.

Um, okay.

So.

>> Uh, so what's the game?

>> Yeah.

How's the game work here?

>> Um, this year's game that the, um, the theme is kind of architectural archeology and it's called um rebuild presented by Haas.

Um, but the basics, it doesn't really have a lot to do with archeology.

There's a hub, two hubs in the middle of the field.

You're shooting a yellow foamy ball, kind of hard foamy ball.

That's about what is it, guys?

About eight inches roughly.

So yeah, about 8 or 9in in diameter.

Um, and the robots, one of the unique things the robots can collect as many as they want.

So there's like hundreds of balls out on the field.

And so you'll see these robots running out there and just trying to scoop up as many as they can, getting into their hopper.

And then they'll start shoot.

And it's really cool to see the shots when it's, when it's one of those top robots that can just make an arc and they're just like 20 balls go arcing through the air into that, um, so that's the main way this year the people score.

There's also an option for climbing at the end.

There's like a jungle gym kind of thing.

The robot can climb to get some extra points at the end.

Um.

>> How big are the robots?

>> The robots are about 120 pounds.

They are, um, typically around three foot by three foot.

And this year a lot of them are short.

They're only because we have an obstacle to get under that's two feet tall, but some of them are 3 or 4ft tall.

Um, when they're expanded out.

>> Climb a jungle gym, but you also have to get under a two foot limbo.

>> Right?

Right.

So it's a lot of figuring out how to package it into a small space.

What do you how much can you expand out?

There's some very specific rules each year.

It changes what what our task is and what the constraints are.

>> How long do they have to accomplish the tasks.

>> They learn about the task?

Um, in early January and they first competitions are in March.

>> So okay.

>> So it's like eight weeks or so.

>> Okay.

And that's why this is an off season competition here.

>> We created this, um, event because you do so much work getting your robot ready.

And we knew that, um, X-Cats are really fortunate because of our long history and support that we have, we are able to go to two competitions every year and we learned so much from the first competition that we get to apply to the second competition.

You know, this year, I think we didn't even make it to the finals tournament in the first competition.

But in the second competition we were in Alliance Captain.

So, um, big changes from from what we learned and we felt like other teams deserve to have that opportunity to leverage the learning or just to have fun driving their robot around a second time.

>> Sure.

>> Absolutely.

Because it's fun to drive those things and to be part of the team that's doing it.

And, um, so that's why we created this event.

Um, because there weren't any other off season events in Rochester except for one in the fall.

>> And so once there, are they on a clock?

Yes.

How long is the clock?

>> Two minutes.

Yeah, it's two minutes.

And 20s.

I think you have 20s of autonomous and then two minutes of, uh.

>> So high pressure.

>> Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Are either of you drivers?

>> Uh, no.

>> No.

Okay.

Noor is our driver.

He's going to be on on the second half.

>> Yeah.

We're going to talk to Nora in the second half here.

Um, but the driver is defined as what here.?

>> The person operating the controller.

>> Actually on the controls there.

Yeah.

Okay.

So Shadi, what are you doing.

Are you just kind of yelling at the driver?

>> Uh, no, I'm the technician there, so I stay on making sure that the robot is on is connected to the robot to like I meant the controller is making sure that it's all connected and all.

There's no issues.

While we also have the person that's right there driving.

We'll I was giving instructions like go slower, go faster, make sure you go over this bump.

Make sure you bring it into the center, just guiding them along about what should be happening inside the pit.

I mean, inside the hub.

The field field.

>> So was a March competition.

Was that your first time being on a team that's actually on the clock?

>> Mhm.

>> Was it a lot of pressure?

>> Oh it was it was something all right.

It was quite hectic, but I loved it.

It was so much fun.

>> Can you describe what those two minutes are like, you know, in terms of trying to manage your stress and emotions.

>> During those two minutes?

Oh, it's like there's so much going on that you have to focus on one main part, but also focusing on others.

It was hectic at all, but also at the same time, I was able to manage it because everybody was really supportive.

They were like giving tips on this, tips on that, how it should be going.

Like we planned what we should be going on beforehand.

Like all of the three teams meet up side like, which will go to this area in the pit and decide where, how we should go with our routes, how we should play.

Some were defensive, some was on fence.

It was it was planned beforehand, so it wasn't really too much pressure on it.

But it.

But it was still there, you know, hidden below.

>> Well, and you know, once the clock starts, it doesn't always go exactly like you expect it to, right?

>> Yes.

>> That happened with our robots quite a few times.

>> Can you well describe a little.

>> Bit.

>> Oh, oh, let's talk about the biggest one.

Our battery fell out midway through.

We tried to go through, we accidentally picked up one of the balls and it went underneath and it popped out our battery.

So it was just there on the field and we were like, oh my goodness.

So we ended up adding extra straps just to keep that battery in place.

It was, it was chaotic.

>> You know, but you'll never forget that moment probably.

And you learn from every time I would use the word mistake, every time there's a mistake or something that's unexpected.

It's a learning opportunity, isn't it?

>> Mhm.

>> How much better do you think you are now at doing this than you were six months ago?

>> Oh, incredibly.

I mean, six months ago, I didn't even know what to put in a robot or how it even goes.

But now I'm able to say, okay, this part goes here, this part goes there, and then you have to connect it right here.

Like I'm it was.

>> Was I lost.

>> My last words.

>> Was your team all new students this year?

>> Yes, it was all new students.

>> It's pretty amazing what these guys pulled together.

Um, in making that happen with all new students.

>> And what are your, uh, what are your expectations for Saturday?

>> Well, since we have gotten help from the Crimson Jewels mentor, Matthew, we're how well we know that our robot will be able to run and all we won't have another battery falling out.

So our expectation is that we'll be able to run smoothly through the field and pick up the the foam balls as necessary and bring it back to our hub.

>> Okay.

And Daniel, can you describe your, um, what your first time doing this was like.?

>> It was a bit of pressure to be working in the pit because there were occasions that we had to rush to get the robot finished because we had to queue up right then for our match and our robot wasn't finished yet.

So we had to scramble around our pit to get everything we needed to get ready.

And that was pretty.

>> Pretty stressful.

>> Yeah.

>> Pretty stressful.

>> Couldn't find the word.

>> That's okay.

Um, but it worked out okay.

I mean, it sounds like again, everything's a learning experience.

What do you think you've learned the most?

Or what do you think you're most improved at as a team member here?

>> I think I'm most improved at teamwork and asking for help if I need it, because before this I really didn't like asking for help, even if I knew I needed it.

But now that I've been on the team for eight months, I know I now know that it's it's okay to ask for help and it's a lot easier when you do have help, and it's not as stressful on the body and on the brain.

>> This is where your mentor, this is where Vicky's going.

See, that's about life.

That's not just about robotics.

That's so good, isn't it?

It is.

It's exactly what you talked about here.

So before we let this crew step out and we're going to bring in the next crew, uh, pretty shortly here.

Um, Sheldon, what do you what do you think is the future of programs like this?

Are you going to be able to sustain and grow them?

And are you offering them to as many students as you possibly can right now?

What are you going to do?

>> So the goal is to offer as many students as I can, as I can.

As I said before, it's extremely expensive to join the team, to pay for the coaches.

Um, so I think what I have right now in terms of the four school programs, um, East and Edison tend to share students.

So that works out great.

Monroe has a program.

They're X-Cats Wilson that actually operates at Edison's campus.

So the hope is to extend the program.

But other things other than just robotics, if you want robotics, you go to these schools.

If you want to do Lego, you do Legos at all the schools if possible.

But other opportunities other than just robotics, more enrichment opportunities, more coding opportunities, more, um, brain processing, Stem sports activities, sorry, activities involving our district.

>> Okay.

Um, and what do you need most to make it happen?

Is it funding?

>> Yes, yes.

Funding is important, but more than funding any coaches, I need people who are willing to participate in the process and whether it be coaches as mentors, coaches running the teams, I need people who need people, not robots, to operate and run.

These teams.

>> Okay.

And you find them like people like Vicky.

How are you going to find more of them?

>> Opportunities like this?

I think sharing the experiences the students have here, it tells, um, future coaches like, yeah, I can make a difference in someone's life.

For me, there was a coach who helped me when I was a kid in high school.

I did, um, um, mentoring as well.

And that made me come out of who I am and made me learn a lot.

Even though I do teaching now.

But those, these kind of experiences lead to future.

And I think everyone wants to have an impact on students.

If you're in education field.

So having these opportunities, showing what comes out of it is really helpful and inspiring others.

>> Shahed is it?

Is it fun?

I mean, I know it's stressful, but is this like a high level fun for you or is it more high level nerves.

>> High level fun?

I'm I'm always excited to go to robotics.

It's just the people there make it so much better than what it actually is.

Like no effect.

But, you know, to be able to work on something.

So large and like it has so many complicated pieces going around with it.

It's just, it's amazing to feel like, yeah, we created that.

Like we did that.

It's, it's very fun.

I enjoy.

>> It a lot.

>> I wish everybody had your mentality when it comes to how we're going to develop technology in the future, because I see these videos that go viral and they're, you know, it's Boston mechanics and other companies that make these machines that, you know, now they're really kind of fluid with their movements and they're, they're flipping pancakes, these robots and they're like doing really fine motor detail stuff.

And I'm like, you know, pretty soon it's over for us, isn't it?

Like we're, we're doomed.

But I also think like, how cool that they can do this also.

We're doomed.

But then I. Thought if we just go in with Chinese mentality, it's like, don't let tech make you lazy.

Don't let AI take away the importance of of your own thinking.

Think about what you're making and why.

Don't just do it because you can learn how to do it first, and then figure out how to apply it.

I think the world would be in a better shape.

I just don't know that all the tech executives have your mentality on that.

Does that make sense.

>> To you?

Um.

>> One thing I wanted to add to is.

>> Yeah.

>> This these opportunities makes math, Ela science socially important.

This connects us to all those things.

This is a demonstration of those skills that you learn and those core subjects that is applied in CTE, in these enrichment opportunities.

So this is a great experience.

>> Uh, well said here.

And Daniel, for people who have not been to one of these competitions, why should they go on Saturday?

>> They should go primarily because they'll get to see what robotics is really about and how much connection it can.

It can cause and how much how close people can get.

And all those, the, the effort and, and, uh, communications and work is put into this and how much fun it can be and how much experience they and skills they can learn.

>> Well, it's going to be a great time.

I know for you guys on Saturday, the Flower City frenzy, it's high speed robots in action.

Saturday this Saturday, 9 a.m.

To 6 p.m.

It's happening at East High School.

And as Vicki said earlier, you can just go out for go spend an hour, go spend 90 minutes.

Check it out, go, go see what the action looks like.

You can actually watch the robots compete, and you might bump into Daniel and Shadi and the whole team out there.

They're going to step aside.

Now we're going to let some of your teammates in here.

It's been great meeting you guys.

>> It's been great here too.

>> Thank you for being here.

And I want to thank as well.

Sheldon Cox executive director of Career and Technical education at the Rochester City School District.

It's a big and hard job, and it looks like you're doing a great job of it, sir, I.

>> Appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

>> Thank you very much.

So we're going to take this short break.

We'll come right back with the rest of the team on Connections here.

I'm Evan Dawson Thursday on the next Connections we go on the road, we'll have a live audience and we're talking about youth mental health.

We'll talk to organizations that are working on the ground with people in our community, like the center for youth, and you're going to hear from those who work in the school district about what they are seeing.

You're going to hear personal stories, and we'll take your comments as we talk youth, mental health live on Connections.

Thursday.

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>> This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

So you had a chance to meet some of the team members in the last half hour.

I want to welcome three students who are alongside Vicky Robertson, who is a first robotics mentor for the X-Cats at Wilson Magnet High School.

Vicky is still with us.

Next to Vicky is Noor Hussein, who's a senior at Joseph C. Wilson High School and a robot driver software lead for the X-Cats.

Your driver?

Yeah, well, it's great to have you.

Thank you for being here.

>> Thanks for having me.

>> Across the table.

Isaiah Sansone is a sophomore at East High School and a robot builder and controller for the Crimson Jewels.

Welcome, Isaiah.

Thanks for being here.

And Angel Rios is a sophomore as well, a drive team coach and electrical lead for the X-Cats.

Thanks for being here.

>> Thank you for having me.

>> So, uh, Vicky, how are these students doing?

>> They're doing great.

>> Give them give them a little review here.

Uh, so far, so good.

>> Oh, yeah.

I mean, we've the, uh, the, the students from SSC did a great job representing what, what first is like, we need Noor to tell us what it's like to drive.

>> We're going to do that in.

>> Just a second here.

By the way, when you're talking about these teams, Vicky, how many total different teams do we have in the Rochester.

>> Area?

>> In the Rochester area, there's about 20 teams.

One of the big differences Sheldon mentioned that it's an expensive program, and most of the suburban teams charge kids to participate.

They charge at the very least, they charge them to travel, but most of them just plain charge them to participate.

Like a travel team for sports.

Um, as city teams, we firmly want everyone to be able to participate.

So we never charge for anything.

We have food at all of our meals, um, at all of our meetings and that kind of thing.

So, um, that's why we need the sponsorship from the city school district, but we also get sponsorship from corporations like Xerox.

Um, and, uh, BAE and a bunch of others that we've reached out to.

ESL has been a huge sponsor for us.

Um, and small, small companies that have just pitched in and helped out with frenzy to.

>> Well, we're going to go around the table.

I'm going to start with Nora.

Nora, get right on that microphone for me.

You're a senior now at Wilson and you're a robot driver here.

When did you first get involved with robotics?

>> I mean, I first got involved with robotics my freshman year.

>> So you've been doing it for a while now?

>> Yeah, four years.

>> And, uh, how much better are you now as a senior than you were as a freshman?

>> Oh, I am so much better.

I knew nothing coming into the program.

Um.

Yeah.

I mean, I've really learned a lot over my four years.

>> Why did you get in the first place?

Why did you start in your freshman year?

>> I just needed a club to join.

I saw fliers and my friend's mom was on the team.

So.

>> And did you find out pretty fast that did you think, like, this is not for me?

Or like, maybe I'll make it work?

Or did you love it right away?

>> It it took me a couple months to fall in love with the program.

>> Okay.

And why did you eventually connect with it so much?

>> I don't really know, actually.

I.

>> I mean.

>> What do you love about.

>> It?

>> I just, I could see myself and I could see myself in this field.

That's why I mainly stayed over the four years.

>> Yeah, that's really interesting.

Yeah.

So okay, so tell me a little bit more about that.

So what are the kinds of things you can envision yourself doing in the future?

>> I never really knew what I wanted to get into before joining X-Cats, but now, after joining the robot software Subteam, I envisioned myself in a software field for my future career.

You know, in computer science.

>> Okay.

And you're a senior now.

So do you got plans for the next year yet?

>> College.

>> Okay.

Do you know where you're going?

>> Uh, hopefully Suny poly.

>> Okay, Suny poly.

All right.

And so you're you're kind of on your way here.

How much is robotics helped you?

>> It's helped me a lot.

I, again, I knew nothing about robotics coming into the program, knew nothing about coding.

I also was never able to speak to people, was extremely shy.

>> I mean, you got a smile that brightens up the room, man.

And you're doing a great job here.

But you're saying you've come a long way on that stuff.

>> Yeah.

>> Well, I mean, that's life and that's great.

Um, tell me about being a driver now.

I mean so and again, if people are just joining us when we talk about a driver, I want Vicky to describe there's different roles on the team.

Teams of three.

>> Is that right.

>> There are three robots in an alliance.

Um for each robot they have a driver and operator, a coach, a human player and a technician.

So that group of five people is your team's drive team.

Yeah.

Um, that do that they put in extra hours practicing, learning to work together, figuring out strategies, figuring out autos, all kinds of stuff that Noor can tell more about.

>> Okay.

>> And so when you get to these competitions, as we're going to see on Saturday, and as they did in March, Vicky, they've got two minutes, two minutes.

20s you.

>> Said, yeah.

>> To actually compete and to do these various tasks.

And for people who are just tuning in late here, again, this year's task was what describe it again.

>> Here.

>> Uh, to shoot to pick up, uh, yellow balls that are about eight inch in diameter.

Uh, they're foam hard foam balls.

Um, the robot has to pick them up.

It puts them in typically into a hopper.

It has to drive around to deliver them to where a place where it can shoot.

Um, they're shooting up into the hopper is what, ten feet high?

Something like that.

I don't know, it's pretty high.

Um, maybe not that high.

Um, but they have to shoot it pretty high.

Um, and there's also an element of offense and defense that's going on this year's game that gets really complicated to explain.

>> Yeah.

>> But it's.

>> So it's wild.

It moves fast.

And the driver's role is to do what Vicky.

>> They're they're they're making the robot move.

So they.

Charge the controller.

They're in charge of the controls.

They're making the robot move each year.

It depends a little bit about how much they're operating the mechanisms or not.

Um, but you are doing most everything this year I think.

>> Yeah.

No, I was in charge of everything.

The robot, everything the robot was doing, it was all me until the auto sections.

>> Okay.

Uh, any, any pressure involved with that?

Do you feel pressure?

>> Not really.

I'm just kind of focused on our own robot.

That's why we have our coach and operator.

I.

>> There they are.

Yeah.

>> Yeah, they're in charge of watching out on, you know, potential obstacles on the field.

Other teams I focus on scoring and my own robot.

>> So Isaiah is a robot builder.

We're going to talk about that.

Angel is the drive team coach.

We'll talk about that.

But are you as good a driver as you wanted to be.

I mean like, are you pretty good.

>> Now?

>> I, I people say I'm good.

>> Yeah, I.

>> Like that answer.

Um, so what do you think Saturday is going to be like?

>> Um.

I mean, the energy is going to be through the roof.

Obviously, I don't really think it's going to be that stressful.

It's going to be amazing for all the spectators, everyone, everyone who's competing.

Um.

>> Yeah, you mentioned the energy and that's something that like if, if, if you jump on YouTube and just look up first robotics competitions, I think the first time people will see it will surprise them a little bit.

Some of the energy here, um, did the energy surprise you when you first experienced it?

>> Yeah, I.

>> I wasn't expecting much.

All they told me was that it was six robots on a volleyball sized field.

I wasn't expecting that much noise or that much energy in the room.

You walk in, you see all these people wearing their team colors, cheering for their teams.

Robots can be really loud and just working back in the pits.

It you know, I mean, it can be loud, but it's it's great.

The people there are amazing.

>> How much work do you guys put into like your, your swag and like your, your gear?

>> We change it every year.

>> You change it up.

Okay.

>> Yeah, we keep the, uh, the tie dye.

In fact, that's why frenzies even got the tie dye.

Um, to keep that X-Cats branding.

But the, uh, the rest of it, we change up.

>> Okay.

So, so you'll see colors, you'll see team logos and all kinds of sort of team spirit elements there.

Um, Noor.

Congratulations on all the success with that.

And so before I turn to your colleagues here, I'm going to ask you, and we're going to go off script on that.

Some other stuff here.

So we asked your your colleague that some of the students in the first half hour, if they're optimistic about the future because of artificial intelligence or if they're if they think it's going to be good or bad for the future.

When you think about AI, is it good or bad in your mind?

>> Um, I really haven't thought of it that much.

I mean, it's a useful tool.

I mean, I haven't really used it that much when coding because, you know, I'm not really allowed to.

Also, it just kind of takes away from the enjoyment for me.

It's, I guess it can be a little scary.

>> But scary in what context?

What way?

>> I mean, as a beginner, everything I can do now can possibly be done better by.

>> Uh.

>> Um, yeah.

And I think, but, um, as I get better, it shouldn't, it wouldn't be that, it wouldn't be that, um, scary to think about because they don't really have my creativity or ingenuity as humans do.

>> So I hope that, I mean, I'm, I'm with you there and I hope you're right about that.

Um, you know, that was one of the themes in the first half hour.

We talked about this idea of what could it actually replace?

What could it do better than humans and what can't it do?

And Vicky was saying, there's, there's a lot of human elements that you don't think it will approach in, in, in a lot of different fields.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, yeah.

I think that's true.

>> Well, Noor I, I, I, I really appreciate you telling the story, man, and good luck to you on driving on Saturday.

Thank you.

I know it's going to be a blast across the table.

Let's so first of all, Angel Rios is the drive team coach.

So you're on the mic now sir.

So what does it mean to be a drive team coach?

>> Uh, boss him around.

That's mainly what I like.

>> Did you say boss him around?

>> Yeah.

You know, um, uh, when I first started the coach position.

I thought it was going to be more stressful.

But I realized since I'm doing it with some two friends, that I communicate really well with, I had a blast the whole time during my position as coach.

>> Okay.

And what's the responsibility that you have?

>> Um, strategizing with the other teams?

That's the main important part because if you mess up a strategy once, it could ruin the whole dynamic for the whole game.

So it's really important to strategize beforehand with the teams.

>> When did you first get involved with robotics?

>> Uh, last year as a freshman.

>> Okay.

And are you, are you enjoying it more this year?

>> Oh, totally.

>> Okay.

Why why do you like it?

>> Um, it was such a jump, like from last year when I was a freshman and starting off, I didn't know much of the people.

And then that changed really quickly.

And I just got so used to everybody and it made me want to come back.

Like everybody in the team is family.

>> Yeah.

Everybody's pretty tight, huh?

Yeah.

Um that's awesome.

Um, that's that's really, really good.

Now, how competitive are you with this?

And what I mean by that is a lot of what we've heard this hour is how collaborative people are and how the teams may help each other.

And that's really cool.

But you're still competing and you got a very strange smile on your face over there.

Vicky.

>> Well, you know, we talk about this, um, there's a first word called cooperation, which is a very awkward word, but the idea is that you cooperate and work together and you do gracious professionalism off the field.

On the field, you compete hard and and do your best to win.

And I think that's really what most people experience.

Um, it is very much people want to win.

People want to get qualified to go to champs.

People want to do well for sure.

>> Okay, so for you, Angel, how, how competitive are you on competition days?

>> I say, oh, pretty competitive.

I was definitely, I definitely lost my voice after our Tech Valley.

It was, um, at some moments.

It was definitely stressful.

Um, most of the time I thought I had it under control and, but I definitely liked, um, definitely wanted to win.

That was the main target.

We definitely wanted to do good, maybe not win, but maybe do good.

And I feel like we did pretty good.

>> That's great.

That's great.

Um, have you thought about what you think you want to do in the future?

I mean, you're only a sophomore, I get it.

But like, have you thought about what you might want to do?

>> Um, I've thought about it.

Like, um, it's either photography because I do photography on the side or probably get into mural arts because that's the job I had.

But or it could be something stem related with the robotics.

I have so many different possibilities.

Yeah.

I don't know what to pick yet.

>> No, it's great.

I even if you don't end up in a Stem field, do you think robotics will help you?

>> Oh for sure.

Definitely.

Um, helped me be able to speak to people more and definitely improves my, uh, speaking skills and my ability to hold eye contact with people because I was before I was not able to talk to people.

This closely.

And do, um, with this much focus.

>> Yeah.

Noor.

How is he when he's, um, yelling at you.

>> Really loud.

>> He's loud.

Does he do the job?

Well.

>> I'd say so.

Yeah.

>> I love it, I love it.

Isaiah Sandsan is also a sophomore and a robot builder.

So Vicki, the role of the robot builder is what?

>> Um, so it depends on how the teams are structured, but they're the people that are, are actually manufacturing the parts, putting them together, building the robot.

And, and usually most people on the team also may have a role in building the or coding the robot too.

>> So Isaiah is with the Crimson Jewels, a robot builder and controller.

How long have you been doing it?

>> I started my freshman year, so it's my second year doing it.

>> And how are you doing with it?

You enjoy it?

>> Yeah, I enjoy it.

>> Um, how much do you think you've learned in over a year's time with it now?

How much better are you at it now than you started?

>> I think I'm a lot better at at it now than I was at my freshman year of high school.

>> Can you describe what your role is for people who've never seen robotics?

>> Uh, essentially just like construct the robot.

I put parts together.

If like, like I just put parts together, I put the electrical together and build the robot from the, from the chassis to the, I guess you say the top of it, the climber.

>> Why do you think you're good at it?

>> I'm good at it.

Uh.

I just been doing stuff like this.

Like I like building stuff.

>> It's like your mind just works that way.

Yeah.

>> I just like building stuff like Legos.

Something along those lines.

>> Were you like one of those dudes who was, like, doing really cool Legos early on in your life?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Can you still build like, like a huge set?

>> Like I still build like giant Lego sets from my little cousins and stuff.

>> I love it, I love it.

So what is competition day like for you?

>> Uh, fun.

Like it's like stressful and not seeing if our robot would break, but like when I'm in the field, I just have fun.

I feel like when I'm on the field and we're playing, it's just not stressful.

It's just fun.

>> Okay, so it's the good kind of fun.

It's not.

Yeah.

>> Doesn't stress enjoyable.

>> Does it feel pretty competitive though, too?

>> Yeah.

It feels competitive.

>> What do you, uh, what do you hope for for Saturday?

Are you going to be there Saturday?

Yeah.

What are you hoping for on Saturday?

>> To win.

To win.

>> To win straight to the top there.

Um, and on YouTube, Gabe is asking a couple questions.

Number one, how old do you have to be to join a first team?

Is it you started freshman?

>> I think you just got to be in high school.

>> Is that right?

>> So first robotics, what we've been talking about is a high school thing.

Yeah.

So you should be in ninth grade.

Sometimes we have some younger kids that are mentors, kids that are essentially members of the team too.

But, um, generally it's ninth through 12th.

Lego League has programs for elementary school, first tech challenge is seventh grade through 12th.

>> And, um, also from YouTube.

How can we support the frenzy and how do we support teams being able to go to more competitions?

>> Um, so the frenzy is, uh, like I said, we have various sponsors, uh, people we X-Cats and other, um, the other teams can always use financial support.

We have a donation button on our website, X-Cats dot x dash cats.org.

Um, but honestly, one of the things Sheldon mentioned is people.

So stop by at frenzy on Saturday and visit the pits and talk to the kids and see whether you might be interested in volunteering at for future events or mentoring or any of those, um, those roles.

There's lots of different roles for people.

I know.

I, um, invited several friends of mine just to come help with field reset with the thought that they might catch the bug.

Um, because it is a, I think angel used the word family and, and you really for the adults and the students, you become a family and supporting each other and, um, seeing the kids growth, um, one of our head mentors, he's been doing this program for like 30 years, I think, and he says, I do this this long because the program works and it's so satisfying to see.

>> That's great.

So again, on Saturday, Flower City frenzy is a first robotics off season competition event.

It's happening at East High School, and they'll be there all day.

9 a.m.

To 6 p.m.. Um, Vicki says if you pop in for an hour, just an hour, you can really get the full flavor.

You can see a lot of the action.

And like she said, maybe find out if you love it, find out if it's something that maybe someone that you know, wants to do.

>> Uh, and I guess one other thing is that our mentors aren't just, um, engineers.

We have, we definitely have a need for mechanical engineers and electrical engineers and all of those types to do this.

But it can also be somebody that's, that's handy at building things, you know, because we have roles for that.

We have, we always need marketing.

We, you know, I know X-Cats we need somebody who understands social media because we're terrible at it.

>> Wait, what is your professional background?

>> I'm an electrical engineer by training.

>> You are an electrical engineer.

Okay, well, but again, don't have to be an engineer.

Nope.

To be a mentor for robotics, I love it.

Um, all right, I'll I'll ask Angel and Isaiah real quick here.

What we've been asking the other kids here.

Angel, in the future, you think about AI, is that a negative or a positive thing?

>> I feel like it could be.

>> Get on that mic for me.

>> Yeah.

I feel like it could be a mix of both good and bad.

Um, it could do bad in many different ways, but it could also help people in many good ways learn about some stuff that they might not understand fully.

>> Yeah.

And what's the worst thing when you say bad in a lot of different ways?

Like what's the worst it could do.

>> A takeover?

Oh boy, you never know.

>> Yeah.

No, I mean, we don't we've never lived on a planet with another intelligence that's a thousand times smarter than us.

So you never know.

Okay, Isaiah, it's in the future, we're gonna say, I'm glad we have AI or I wish we never invented AI.

>> Future.

I think I think some people might, I think people are going to be glad that we had AI.

>> I'm glad to hear that.

I'm glad to hear some positive.

Vicky's steered me back a little bit to hear from my apocalyptic ways of thinking.

Although you got to consider all the possibilities, and I'm just glad there are still human beings learning these skills, operating the robots, human beings in charge, making the decisions that should be the baseline.

Yes.

Keep humans in charge.

Keep Noor driving keep angel coaching.

Keep Izaya building and controlling.

And we're good.

We're good.

There we go.

Have a great time on Saturday.

Thanks, everybody.

And thank you to Vicki Robertson.

Noor Hussein.

Angel Rios.

Izaya Sandsan.

Thank you everybody.

Awesome job.

Have fun.

On Saturday.

Congratulations on all of your success.

Thank you.

From all of us at Connections.

Thank you for finding us on these various forms of these various platforms.

Wherever you are finding us.

Thanks for being with us on your public media.

We'll be back with you tomorrow with a live on the road show.

In our first hour tomorrow.

We'll talk to you then.

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