LIFE ON HIMES
Taking on
the WORLD
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tory, Jesuit’s Stealth Tigers robotics
advanced past the regional to the
FRC FIRST Robotics World Championships.
There, in Houston on April 20, one
thing became clear: Stealth Tigers Team
3164 is an emerging force in the robotics
world.
After a sluggish 1-3 start in qualifying
matches on Day 1 in the 400-team
World Championships, Team 3164 and
its fast and agile, mecanum-wheeled
robot took command on Day 2. Jesuit
reeled off six consecutive victories to
close out qualifying.
The team rocketed up the standings in
its 65-team division, from the mid-50s
to the low-20s. And as the “juggernaut”
in their alliances all day long, the
Tigers became a hot commodity. They
quickly were selected into an alliance to
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The season ended there – Team 3164’s
3-team alliance came up short in its
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overall success left the Stealth Tigers
hungry for more.
“Just an incredible experience for the
team,” said moderator Lauren Hescheles,
who also leads Jesuit’s engineering
program. “To see that we can compete
with the best, to have spent several
days interacting with all of these other
great robotics programs from around
the world (more than a dozen countries
were represented), it was an amazing
growth experience.
“We came back from Houston feeling
like we can accomplish anything.”
Jesuit robotics brotherhood was there
to support them. Charlie Duffy ’15 is a
Stealth Tigers alum whose sister, junior
Colleen Duffy, is on the team this year
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Holy Names students among the 16 team
members) and whose father, Patrick
Duffy, is a team mentor. Charlie Duffy
and four other Jesuit robotics alums –
Ben Huggins ’15, Damon Piacitelli ’14,
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’13 – traveled to Houston and supported
the Stealth Tigers.
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6 JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • SPRING 2018
In addition to moderators Hescheles and
Jason Ault, the Stealth Tigers are supported
by mentors Patrick Duffy, P ’15, Barry
Sharp, P ’08, and Ray Prendes, P ’17, ’20.
Each season, FIRST Robotics teams
build a new robot to tackle a new game
challenge. In this spring’s game challenge,
titled FIRST Power Up, the robots move
large yellow "power cubes" into various
switches, plates, scales, and vaults at the
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seconds are autonomous, as the robot’s
movements are pre-set. The next 2:15
are tele-operated, as the team’s driver
controls the robot remotely. At the end,
the robots must climb a center platform.
The superior maneuverability of Team
3164’s robot was critical to its success
this spring. The mecanum wheels can
strafe side-to-side, essentially allowing
the robot to move in any direction at any
moment.
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at the Orlando Regional (in early March)
that we were capable of something
special,” said Robotics club moderator
Lauren Hescheles. “The team put in an
incredible amount of time, effort, focus,
and teamwork the past few months. To
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Scan to view a video of Jesuit’s Team
3164 in action at the South Florida
Regional
Jesuit robotics
excels at
the World
Championships
in Houston
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the nation’s top robotics programs at the
South Florida Regional in late March.
Many robotics teams represent regions
or clusters of schools that have united
their resources into one team. The Stealth
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Jesuit and AHN. Representing Jesuit
this spring were: Daniel Guagliardo '19
(co-captain), Christian Jung '18 (club president),
Jack Wernet '19 (lead mechanic),
Daniel Prendes '20 (mechanical assistant),
Carson Reams '20 (computer aided
design), Dominic Lafalce '20 (co-safety
captain), Victor Anderson '19 (co-director
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Jung '19, John Barreto '21, and Roberto
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Representing the Academy of the Holy
Names were senior Priscilla Santiago,
juniors Colleen Duffy (co-captain), Maria
Hurtado (lead coder), and Madison Rooth,
and sophomore Gabriella Consalvo
(co-safety captain). The Stealth Tigers'
drive team during game action consisted
of drivers Wernet and Prendes, coach
Christian Jung, human player Rooth, and
technician Duffy.