Domo Arigato Livingston Robotics Club

At Esco Optics, participation in our local community is important to us. Yet, for an optical manufacturing facility, opportunities to contribute can be limited. Recently, we fielded a request to our website from Phillipp Molzer, a team coach from a local Livingston Robotics Club, a 501(c)3 STEM educational organization. The club supports several teams of kids aged 10-15. Molzer's team, Spongebot Robotics, was interested in optical fabrication because they were trying to design a 360º computer vision system using a hyperbolic mirror for their autonomous soccer robot. Suffice to say both parties were excited to know more about each other.

Over the February school vacation, Esco invited the team to spend several hours at our facility to learn about custom optics. John Escolas, our Chief Operating Officer, introduced the students to a technical drawing, which is usually the first step in optical development. This was followed by a tour of the manufacturing floor and a lengthy discussion about the raw materials that need to be processed. Upon reaching the Lens Department, the students had a flood of questions regarding the various CNC-machines, their cost, longevity and different functions.
In the Metrology Lab, the students were impressed with the Zygo Verifire XPZ's performance to authenticate that the measurements and specifications of an optical device were consistent with its intended operation. Then, Bill Hill, Esco's Sales Engineer, finished the tour by displaying a wide variety of optics, from flat to spherical to cylindrical bars and other custom shapes. As a parting gift, Esco presented each student with a custom lens with their name and the LRC logo etched in.

We were very impressed by these bright young minds and their very devoted teachers and parents. We will continue to engage our industry and our community to promote science and engineering, especially to today's youth. For the LRC team, their groundwork is already in place to help them achieve their goal...get that soccer robot to score!