Restarting a school robotics team from zero

A workspace, parts and recruits. Angel Msooter Adashio is after all of them at once, having taken her school’s robotics team and made it active. "This is the 'messy' side of engineering," she says.

The team is preparing to compete in FIRST Robotics. Angel describes that as a massive leap "because we’re starting from zero."

“Never underestimate yourself and keep going because you never know when it might all just click into place.”

Angel Msooter Adashio

"We have no legacy equipment, no established mentor network, and no blueprints to follow."

There is a second side to the work. Angel is researching Latency-Aware Adaptive Control via Differentiable Model Predictive Control, which means trying to figure out how to make robotic systems smarter at anticipating errors when there is a delay in their communication. "It’s dense, it’s frustrating, and I spend a lot of time staring at code trying to find that one breakdown in logic," she says. She describes months spent on a literature review and simulation modeling.

The two sides are meant to meet. "I’ve realized that the most advanced algorithms in the world are useless if they can’t be deployed in a physical environment," Angel says. "I want to bridge that gap." The aim is a team that applies control theory to its competition bot.

Getting there has meant scouting for a workspace, navigating school administration to secure a lab, and convincing peers that they can compete at the FIRST level. "I don’t believe in waiting for an invitation or a budget," she says. "I believe in demonstrating value first."

Other students are part of the reason. "What keeps me moving is the realization that I am creating a path for others," Angel says.

The list has grown since. She has started research on Persistent Homology of Stellar Flare Temporal Sequences from TESS, and is currently building Kael, a software for engineers. She also tutored a student who was going to repeat a grade. The student ended up not repeating it, and she credits the tutoring.

"I want to be a leader who leads by being in the trenches," Angel says.

Alongside the robotics she has started Olympiad mathematics, and is taking classes for EGMO and PAMO. She has begun a dual-enrollment associate’s degree in computer science, and has been accepted into Girls Who Code Pathways.