By Trinh Tran
Senior S’ven Morley founded several initiatives to support frontline workers and contribute to the fight against COVID-19 in conjunction with the Milpitas Xtreme Robotics Club, Morley said in a Zoom interview.
The first initiative involved Twitch, Morley said. Twitch is a live streaming platform where viewers can donate to streamers. According to Morley, he streams games on Twitch, and as the fundraising lead of the Milpitas Xtreme Robotics Club, he also coordinates the streaming efforts of other robotics members. The streamers send viewers’ donations to organizations that fight COVID-19, he added. Furthermore, the most recent initiative centers on selling stickers through the sticker shop of Chloe Wang, the former robotics president, Morley said. As with Twitch streaming, proceeds from the stickers will be donated to COVID-19 charities, he stated.
“There are a lot of things I want to do with friends, a lot of memories that I want to make, especially in [the Robotics] Club, that I didn’t get to,” Morley said. “So that’s a motivator for me to get rid of this virus because it affected me in so many personal ways. And of course … it’s killing people. That’s an even greater problem than my personal feelings. Even if it’s one dollar, two dollars, I raise, if I can say I helped, then that’s good because I want to help against something like this.”
Milpitas Xtreme Robotics has been crucial to the execution of his initiatives, Morley said. He worked with all of the core officers to set up the projects, but he particularly noted the support of the club treasurer, Dia Agarwal. She helped with sticker design, he elaborated.
“When the whole COVID thing started, the Robotics Club had a lot of people who 3D printed … face masks and face shields, and sent them to local hospitals,” Morley said. “And, on top of that, we also started our own team [for] an organization called Folding@home, which uses CPU power to help find a cure for the virus. So those things kind of inspired me, and I realized that if they’re helping in their own way, I want to help in mine.”
In terms of future plans, Morley said he would like to ensure the stickers are high-quality and increase sales for them, as that will ultimately result in more donations. With the help of the Robotics Club, he plans to continue producing new and appealing ones, he said.
Morley also wants to increase viewership for his Twitch streaming. “With streaming, maybe [I can] get more of [the robotics] members to stream,” Morley said. “I have the niche of being a flight sim person, but they all have different interests and maybe that can draw attention. And then we have a spreadsheet of charities that we want to donate to.”
In addition, although some initiatives have not been successful, Morley and the Robotics Club aim to keep trying new ideas. “Initially, the first idea that we tried was we wanted to use drones,” Morley said. “In some countries, they use drones to create a disinfectant to help with the virus.”
As the co-lead of the robotics drone team, he suggested the idea to the members, he said. The team was on board and planned to propose a project to the city, he added.
“It was quite an ambitious idea really, so me and the old president, Chloe Wang—she helped me the most with that at the time,” Morley said. “We worked hard together, made a project proposal and all that, worked with members of my drone team. We never received an acceptance or anything, but we figured, that’s okay, we’ll try something new.”