How many of us remember the challenge and the excitement we had, as children, in building our first house out of Lincoln Logs, Legos, or simple building blocks, or our first tower with an Erector Set. It would seem to me that high school students always seem to enjoy such challenges. They love to use their imaginations to create and build new things, taking parts and peices from several unrelated itmes and create something new, different and useful with them. Some teenagers enjoy taking things apart and then rebuilding them as something "more useful".
The students at Parkville High School enjoy such challenges and were certainly up to the task. The challenge to them was to design and build a robotic arm using some basic components provided by Lenox Laser, Inc.and their imaginations. Excitement and anticipation filled the air whenever the opposing teams met.
The students were divided into two teams: DC Motor Team and Pneumatics Team. The DC Motor Team decided to design and build a robotic arm using battery operated or "DC" motors as the power source, giving it the electrical "muscle" it needed to pick up objects. The Pneumatics Team created an arm that used compressed air to make a wide swing in two different directions very quickly.
The building blocks for this project were provided by the Lenox Laser Corporation of Glen Arm, Maryland. They are the world leader in what is known as "small hole technology". Put simply, they use lasers to drill microscopic holes in a variety of materials and for a variety of applications. They have also designed a unique kind of building block technology called e-Blox that allows for rapid set up of everything from workstations to furniture and, yes, even robotic arms, legs, hands and feet.
The DC Motor Team worked on the construction of the robotic arm and completed the project in about 8 hours. Their finished project was able to lift a ball with the arm from many different angles using the electrical motors. The Pneumatics Team worked on the construction of their robotic arm and completed the project in about 8 hours also. They were able to perform similar feats using compressed air rather than electricity.
Both teams demonstrated their completed projects for not only Lenox Laser personnel but for other technical corporations as well. Certificates of Award were presented by Joseph d'Entremont, president of Lenox Laser Corporation, who greatly admired the work of both teams.
When asked about their experiences, comments from team members ranged from "awesome experience" to "I can't wait to do something like this again!" Team members from both sides had a great sense of accomplishment and pride at what they could do when they worked together showing some initiative and imagination. When the competition was over students could be overheard talking about how they could "do it better next time". Their sense of excitement, motivation, drive and desire to do more was inspirational. We can look forward to even greater accomplishments in the future of technology.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
e-Blox Robot Arm Engineering Challenge
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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