Jackrabbit in the Spotlight / Creator of Carrot Cup finds joy in giving back

From playing with toy trains to creating game-playing robots, the blood of an engineer has been running through Mason Jes’ veins for years.

Today the 20-year-old sophomore is project manager for the Vex Robotics team at South Dakota State University.  On April 25-27, they competed against 121 teams from 15 countries at the Vex Robotics World Championships in Dallas. 

The team ended up going five for five in head-to-head division match-ups, placing 23rd out of 41 in its division and placing 12th worldwide in the skills challenge.

While the venue was much smaller Jan. 17-18, when SDSU hosted the first Carrot Cup, Jes said he found the experience extremely satisfying. Jes was the primary coordinator for the event, responsible for volunteers, scheduling, venue planning and overall event execution.

The inaugural Carrot Cup in the University Student Union drew eight college teams and 23 high school teams from a three-state area. “I could see it having 50% more teams next season. The (SDSU Robotics) club really wants to do something like that again,” Jes said of the contest that pitted teams against one another in games similar to what were played at the national Vex event.

The Robotics Education and Competition Foundation presents the Vex Robotics World Championships each year for grades elementary through college. This was the third year that SDSU Robotics Club had an entry.

Jes competed on the Waseca (Minnesota) High School team all four years. In fact, in his senior year the squad was one of 10 teams to be recognized globally for technical documentation and project explanation/presentation.

Stepped right into Vex leadership

With that background, he was thankful to find that SDSU was involved in Vex Robotics. He joined the SDSU Robotics Club immediately and undertook the documentation task associated with the contest. That involved copious amount of writing and photographing every phase of the project from brainstorming to contest results.

“Every few days we would compile project updates, and then really hit it hard after a competition. What went well, what didn’t go well?  What strategy objective should we address? What needs to be changed in the design?” said Jes, who undertook the 390-page effort with one other student.

“Being able to articulate myself through writing and interviews is a very valuable skill. Documentation is a huge factor in determining the (Vex) awards.”

The effort earned the club a trophy. It was one of two college teams in the Vex Robotics World finals to receive the design award, which is given for best project documentation and explanation. It was same award his high school team won.

This year Jes did about 80% of the documentation work for the team’s Vex entry. 

As project manager, Jes also is responsible for overseeing the programming, building, CAD (computer-aided design) and social media/outreach teams. A couple years ago there were only six on the team, so delegation was easy. This year the team sent 15 students to various competitions, and 10 went to the world contest. “We needed more structure,” Jes said.

Creating teams within the team has provided a checks-and-balance process to the organization, Jes added.

3D printers hold special appeal

In addition to investing several hours per week into the robotics club, the sophomore mechanical engineering major also works about 10 to 12 hours per week as one of the student event managers at the University Student Union. He oversees event setup and serves as a resource if an event organizer has problems.

“It helped when it was time to plan the Carrot Cup. I knew what rooms would work well for the event and how many tables we had,” Jes said.

As the school year winds down, Jes is finishing his sophomore design project — an automatic whiteboard cleaner. The current version is on the small side, 5 x 7 inches. An arm with two scrubbers moves along a rail while spinning, somewhat similar to a car wash mechanism. The apparatus was made by a 3D printer. It is one of Jes’ favorite tools to use.

“I like solving all the microproblems involved in creating a 3D project,” he said.

Jes is uncertain where he sees his education taking him. “Perhaps the energy industry. I just want to use the problem-solving mindset I have learned. I love looking at a problem and analyzing it.”