Eyes glued to his screen, Central senior Alexander Wang spends hours upon hours tinkering away on a project.
What project you might ask?
Wang is a part of Naperville North’s Huskie Robotics. The team designs a robot every year and competes against other teams in the U.S. For Wang, robotics is a way to channel his creativity and interest in engineering.
Wang’s family and the technology units in elementary school played a prominent role introducing him to engineering.
“The Lego Mindstorms unit during fourth and fifth grade, interested me,” Wang said. “In seventh grade, I quit Chinese school, and we had to find another weekend activity. Robotics [was] what my dad thought I was interested in.”
Wang has been dedicated to robotics from the start.
“I joined a community robotics team when I was in seventh grade, and I ended up being one of the more dedicated members even though I was a first-year student,” Wang said. “Working on the robot [daily] for multiple hours on Makerspace kicked off my passion and my willingness to commit to robotics.”
FIRST Robotics, a global non-profit organization, runs three main competitions: FIRST LEGO League (FLL), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).
“The choice was between Central’s robotics, VRC, which is a different organization called Vex, and then FRC at North’s FIRST Robotics competition, which [is on] a larger scale,” Wang said. “Large robots attracted me because the things you do are just more grand. The robot you build is more powerful, faster and more capable. FRC gives me both the freedom I want, as well as the guidance I need to succeed.”
Science Olympiad then introduced Wang to horology—the study of time and clocks—during his freshman year. The mechanical aspect of clocks propelled his interest in engineering, prompting him to join Naperville North’s robotics team, Team 3061.
Wang is currently the Feature Project Manager and oversees designing, manufacturing, assembly, wiring and the software for specific components of a robot’s subsystem.
“If you start a project with [Wang,] you will have a great person to brainstorm and design with, all while having fun,” said Central senior Lotem Harnik, Wang’s robotics teammate and close friend.
Jessie Lee, an experienced mechanical engineer, mentors North’s Robotics team and has worked with Wang since he joined the team.
“He has clearly been learning about technology outside of robotics and can apply what he’s learning to his design work in robotics, which is so powerful,” Lee said.
According to Lee, Wang’s attention to detail optimizes the robot’s design process. When Lee gives a suggestion, she is surprised to find Wang had already thought of and implemented it.
“Using [our] design software for the parts isn’t easy; it’s not just dreaming up [a] part and drawing it — it has many considerations that an engineer learns over time on how to get better [at,]” Lee said. “Alex gets all those little details.”
Wang aims to pursue mechanical engineering.
“I have found something that I really enjoy,” Wang said. “I have had times where I spent countless hours working on robotics, not realizing how much time has passed.”
Over the summer, one of Wang’s creations was a LEGO design for FLL. The design allowed the LEGO League students to explore interests in coding, mechanics and general robotics. The design will be used for all FLL teams within District 203.
“His future is obviously bright,” Lee said. “I think he could do anything he wanted to do.”
