Broken Robots Lead to Success
Aspiring to get her team to a worldwide competition
Robotics has always been a more male dominant activity, however 16 year old sophomore Iffat Aniqa is here to break that stereotype.
Aniqa’s sophomore year held an astonishing surprise when she was selected by the old robotics team captain to take his place once he graduated.
“I was very happy, but anxious because it was a big responsibility, however I was mostly excited. It was something I was working towards, it was a goal of mine,” recalls Aniqa.
As a freshman she competed at Passaic County Community College (PCCC) where she was allowed to drive the robot by her fellow teammates. She tells the story of how her first time taking over did not go as planned.
“The robot broke down,” she said. “Only one side was working.”
During the competition the groups participating are assigned to complete three tasks with their robot. After Aniqa was assigned to roll a dice, half of the robot stopped working.
Aniqa was not going to give up that easily so she continued to move disks. She was not able to move as many as the other teams but she managed to collect a total of 50 points.
Although this was a setback, the team did not loose hope and was very much surprised when they were awarded 2nd place. The story did not end here.
The year of 2019 was the first year in which Aniqa’s team competed in a regional competition that would lead to a worldwide competition. Unfortunately they did not win.
“In our first year we were able to see the atmosphere of the event and it has helped us all develop new skills,” Aniqa said.
When asked if she would return to this competition she said, “ Yeah, and we’re going to kill it!”
Aniqa is a young, hard working women who is admired by those around her.
One of her teammates, Noor Hassan says, “Seeing her grow from her first year where she was very quiet to now being captain was a big difference. Now she projects her voice, speaks her mind, is always involved and I’m grateful for her effort and that’s why she deserves this promotion.”
The future is definitely bright for Aniqa. Her journey in the STEM field has only begun.
