submitted by Carolyn Barie
A team of young inventors from Berlin High School is the recipient of a grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program. On October 14, Lemelson-MIT announced Berlin was one of only fourteen schools nationwide that would receive up to $10,000 each in grant funding as part of its 2015–2016 InvenTeam™ initiative to inspire young people to solve real-world problems through invention.
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The InvenTeam initiative aims to inspire a new generation of inventors by engaging students in creative thinking, problem-solving and hands-on learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Berlin’s InvenTeam consists of 9th graders Greta Herman and Melanie DeLaurentis; 10th graders Amanda Despart, Domnika Popov, and Giannah French; 11th graders Samantha Hebert, Christina Shupe, and Darian Sprague; and 12th graders Emma Woolley and Laura Ryder. They are headed up by their high school’s technology teacher, Dawn Wetmore.
All of the InvenTeams chosen for 2015-16 are working on inventions that address problems they’ve recognized in their local communities and those with global impact. Berlin High School’s team has used their grant to develop “Lever Launch & Retrieve.” The prototype is designed to give individuals with limited mobility the ability to toss and retrieve an item and is comprised of three components; a control console that can be easily attached to the arms of a wheel chair, a robotic rolling chassis, and a mechanical arm. The control console contains a joystick control for the robot chassis, a separate joystick control for the mechanical arm, and a lever launch mechanism that, when struck, will launch a bean bag or a small ball in a forward trajectory and will automatically reset for subsequent launches. The mechanical arm is mounted onto the robot chassis, which together will allow the user to pilot the arm over to the launched item, pick it up, and retrieve it using the joystick controls. The idea to develop this prototype was based on the needs of a current student who is unable to participate in gym class due to physical limitations.
On Wednesday, February 24, Berlin’s InvenTeam hosted a Mid-Grant Technical Review where they presented the project progress to date and showed the physical prototype to attendees which included district administration and faculty, occupational therapist, Stephanie Hover and community member/retired RPI Engineering Professor/team mentor, Bill Jennings.
Berlin High School will showcase their completed prototype alongside those of the other 2015-2016 InvenTeams at EurekaFest™, the Lemelson-MIT Program’s multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit held at MIT in June 2016.
A complete list of 2015-2016 InvenTeam grant awardees is available athttp://lemelson.mit.edu/news/high-school-teams-awarded-lemelson-mit-inventeam™-grant-invention-projects
Under Wetmore’s tutelage, students from Berlin have made quite a splash on the regional and national stage when it comes to ingenuity. In 2010-11, Berlin won a similar Lemelson-MIT grant to develop an alert device for hearing impaired athletes. Last school year, a device her students developed to warn parents when their children approach a roadway was selected as the NY State winner of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, earning their school a $20,000 technology grant.[/private]