E-TECH (Robotics) Course Marks 10th Anniversary

From medicine to the military, manufacturing to music, robotics is changing the way the world works.

For a decade now, Civil Air Patrol, through its Engineering Technology (Robotics) Academy, or simply E-TECH (Robotics), has opened the door for cadets to explore this exploding field of technology.

The robotics program is making its mark, said Mary Albright, CAP’s program manager for cadet career exploration camps. So far nearly 300 cadets have completed the weeklong robotics course, now hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs.

The most recent course was conducted at the academy June 12-20, with 31 cadets from 19 wings participating. It’s one of about 50 National Cadet Special Activities that CAP offers.

“The 10th year of this course means that almost 300 cadets have been able to learn hands-on engineering concepts that rival many freshmen year intro to engineering courses at the college level,” Albright said.

This year, about 300 students applied for 32 student slots for E-TECH (Robotics), Albright said.

“Cadets crave interactive learning that gives them real-world, eye-opening experiences into what engineering careers might be like,” she added.

Lt. Col. John DiGiantomasso — known to course students and alums as “Col. D13” — created the course in California in 2015. He’s the lead instructor.

In fact, he literally wrote the book for the course, a nearly 600-page text, and its curriculum.

The text, together with a popular kids’ toy brand, introduces students to the fundamentals of robotics. For the 30-year-plus CAP veteran, now activities director for CAP’s Pacific Region, the course gives cadets an opportunity to learn, develop, and grow.

He was initially approached by a cadet who suggested a robotics course. DiGiantomasso, who had been a whiz kid with computers and software since age 14, knew nothing about robotics. But he remembered one of his son’s favorite toys from 15-20 years earlier.

It was the seed for a new cadet program.

“I knew that my son had a LEGO Mindstorms set, a first-generation thing that he played with that I thought was pretty cool,” DiGiantomasso said.

“So I got a new Mindstorms set and started experimenting with it and finding things you could do with it that I thought were pretty cool,” he said. “I started doing a series of weekend events for cadets at Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base in Oceanside, California, in 2014.

He added, “Kids were learning and having fun. Those little weekends became the origin of the NCSA focused on robotics.”

DiGiantomasso got support from Col. Virginia Nelson, former Pacific Region commander and his mentor in aerospace education. While most NCSAs were conducted in the eastern U.S. and focused on flying and leadership, Nelson wanted a program located on the West Coast dedicated to aerospace education.

Nelson knew about DiGiantomasso’s weekend events. The two shared the same vision. And the weekend timeframe was too short for a deeper learning experience,

“She asked if I could string a bunch of those weekends together and make them a weeklong activity focused on robotics,” he said. “That really was the dream.”

The course teaches the fundamentals of what makes a robot work, their engineering structure, and how to build solid construction, he said.

While technology races ahead at seemingly breakneck speed, the fundamentals are unchanging. And every new NCSA robotics class makes a bigger splash as knowledge forges ahead.

“Each class that I do this seems to be better than the last,” Giantomasso said. “Their foundational technical knowledge is getting better. The builds now are superior to what the cadets were building 10 years ago.

“The students are definitely getting better.”

First Lt. Jared Tesone was a student in that inaugural 2015 class. Now a software engineer for Northrop Grumman, Tesone is an adult staffer and mentor in the course. He joined CAP as a New York Wing cadet in 2011 and now serves in the Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron.

The son of a former U.S. Army helicopter mechanic, Tesone seemingly was always drawn to tech and how things work. For him, the robotics activity was a perfect fit. It’s affected both his CAP and professional career.

He called the week a “transformative” experience that had a “profound” effect on his life, kickstarting his passion for engineering and all things science, technology, engineering, and math.

“Hands-on introduction to engineering in a team-based environment, which was something that I never had the opportunity to do in high school up to that point,” Tesone said. “Then you throw in building robots with LEGOs, also it was my first visit to California, so the factors converged to really make it a no-brainer to try to participate in that activity.

“It felt like it was my activity that was tailor-made for my interests.”

During the course, teams of four work on a variety of projects, culminating in constructing a demonstratable airframe that features all manner of control surfaces, just as in an aircraft — ailerons, rudders, and elevators.

For the man who embodies the heart soul of E-TECH (Robotics), the activity also helps cadets build real-world skills applicable far beyond robotics and aviation — team-building, problem-solving, and critical thinking, asking the “why?”

“What it does is it opens their eyes and makes them curious about the world,” DiGiantomasso said. “They know what things do. But they don’t understand how things work before they attend the class. This course really opens their eyes to mechanical processes and how things work and why they do the things they do.

“That lasts long beyond the week I have to spend with them.”

But for Tesone, who now serves as the Colorado Springs squadron’s assistant aerospace education officer, assistant IT officer, assistant cyber education officer, and assistant leadership officer, the spirit DiGiantomasso created in that first robotics NCSA Tesone attended 10 years ago still burns bright. It’s almost like a fast-paced college course crammed into a week.

“The experience that I just helped staff a few weeks ago is very similar to that original one I attended 10 years ago,” he said. “So just the continuity of the quality of the education, I think.

Participants this year:

California WingCoastal Patrol Base 2 Memorial Composite Squadron

Sonoma County Composite Squadron 157

Florida WingPines-Miramar Composite Squadron

Central Floria Composite Squadron

89th MacDill Aviation Cadet Squadron

Homestead Air Reserve Base Cadet Squadron

North Tampa-Lutz Cadet Squadron

Hawaii WingMaui Composite Squadron

Illinois WingLewis Composite Squadron

Magnus Composite Squadron 

Indiana WingFort Benjamin Harrison Composite Squadron

Iowa WingDubuque Composite Squadron

Maryland WingGlenn L. Martin Composite Squadron

Massachusetts WingGoddard Cadet Squadron

Nevada WingHenderson Composite Squadron

New Jersey WingCapt. Bud Jackson Composite Squadron

Curtiss-Wright Composite Squadron 

New Mexico WingAlamogordo Composite Squadron 

Albuquerque Heights Composite Squadron

New York WingRockland Cadet Squadron

North Carolina WingCape Fear Composite Squadron

Shelby Composite Squadron

Texas WingDavid Lee (Tex) Hill Composite Squadron

Ellington Composite Squadron

Utah WingThunderbird Cadet Squadron

Washington WingNorthshore Composite Squadron

Wisconsin WingFox Cities Composite Squadron

Wyoming Wing492nd Emergency Services Composite Squadron

Staff

Pacific RegionHeadquarters

Arkansas Wing107th Composite Squadron

California WingBrackett Composite Squadron 64

East Bay Cadet Squadron 18

Colorado WingColorado Springs Cadet Squadron 

Florida WingOrmond Beach Composite Squadron

Seminole Composite Squadron

Idaho WingLegislative Squdaron 

Illinois WingMagnus Composite Squadron

Indiana WingFalcon Cadet Squadron

Minnesota WingFort Snelling Cadet Squadron

Missouri WingTable Rock Lake Composite Squadron

_____Paul SouthContributing Writer