Cooperation equips Wave Robotics with new Fab-Lab

The tides have turned for the local FIRST Robotics Competition team, Wave Robotics, as they explore and chart unfamiliar territory with a new Fab-Lab at North High School. Wave Robotics is a team that combines engineering and leadership-oriented skills to create a successful robot in organized competitions. Junior Ryan Gohde is the manufacturing lead of the team and has been a member for his entire high school career. 

“Wave Robotics is a part of the FIRST Robotics Competition, where we build a robot based on a new game every year, and we compete against other teams from around the world in competitions,” he said. 

photo courtesy of Wave Robotics

Students and mentors stand by and observe previous years’ robots. The Wave Robotics team has been running strong since 2008 .

Fellow junior Olufunsho Akinleye has been on Wave for three years. Akinleye enjoys the variety of skills which can be utilized, allowing for great skill set diversity among members.

“We have our manufacturing subteam, our programming subteam, our computer-aided design subteam, our business subteam, and electrical systems that people can do,” he said. 

The team has recently experienced a new change, moving from the basement in Tipler Middle School to an area near the shops of North High. Engineering fanatic Akinleye is grateful for the new space. 

“Our first place at Tipler was very small; there was nothing we could really do there,” he said. “We still got things done, but it wasn’t as spacious, and we didn’t really have all the equipment we needed or wanted, so being here is just a greater opportunity for us to do better as a team.”

Gohde thinks that the new Fab-Lab will help the team work more efficiently without sacrificing quality. 

“We got a brand new CNC table that will help us cut-out parts faster and more accurately, as well as a brand new CNC mill to speed up our manufacturing process,” he said. “We got access to a lot more of the machines we already had, so more people can be working at once.”

Akinleye felt satisfied with the new additions to the robotics lab and has some personal favorites. 

“For me, my favorite is the computer room, since I’m a computer-aided design member,” he said. “Otherwise, the $10,000 3D printers we got were pretty cool too.”

Senior Wave member Mercedes Stromberg looks forward to the more appealing setting.

“The space is a lot more welcoming and inviting to not only students and kids that are coming in for events, but our sponsors and teachers as well,” she said.

photo courtesy of Wave Robotics

Akinleye (center) works with fellow students to plan out a design for a robot. The groups have been working socially distanced during the pandemic.

Sponsors have played a key role in helping fund the costly new lab. Stromberg relayed the team’s gratitude for the extra financial help. 

“We raised over $300,000 through various grants, scholarships, and sponsor donations,” she said. “The big grant we got was Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation; they contributed a large amount of money through grants.”

Other sponsors provided materials instead of monetary donations for the team. Either way, the team feels the impact of every contribution. 

“Sherman Williams is one of our new sponsors; they provided us with paint for our spaces and really cool colors that match our team shirts and logos,” Stromberg said.

Wave Robotics leader Sarah Ludwig is proud of the hard work that went into creating the area.

“There was lots of fundraising that went into this space,” she said. “North High School and the school district worked together with some industry to make this place happen.”

Even though the team is glad to have changed for the better, the process wasn’t always so easy. The team faced unprecedented challenges while transferring materials. 

“We had to take multiple trips over multiple days with social distancing guidelines and capacity limits,” Stromberg said. “We really had to be careful with how many people were meeting. Moving things to our new space has just been a little chaotic, but we got there in the end and we are just going through our stuff.”

No matter the future obstacles or storms in the way, the Wave Robotics team dives fearlessly into the unknown. Akinleye is ecstatic for the future and the new lessons he will learn with the team.

“I love getting to see some of my friends who are here, getting to have fun and also pursuing different ambitions and endeavours,” he said. “I had the whole mindset of wanting to become a doctor or going into the medical field and things like that, but now, Wave has just let me explore a different passion and it's really fun.”

by Hannah Chunng

Published March 25, 2021

Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue VI