How can a robot help a surgeon reduce the recovery process from surgery? How can a robot help cut down human error associated with incorrect medicine doses?  How can robotics help hospitals in rural areas help patients get  care from medical specialist only found hundreds of miles away?  North Marshall Middle School Technology Club students got very satisfying answers to these other bio-medical engineering questions recently.

Robot arms doing precise work

North Marshall Middle School Technology Club is well known for their interest in robotics and its applications.  The school fields teams each year that compete and sometimes win state awards in robotics.   North Marshall has a six-weeks class dedicated to students learning the basics of mobile robotics.   North Marshall students have taken many field trips related to robotics, also. 

In March, the club took a field trip to Western Baptist Hospital (WBH).  While there they saw four different robots in action.  They first got to manipulate first hand the $1.4 Million da Vinci robot.  Each student had WBH trainer teach the fine movements available to any surgeon using this robot.  “It was exciting to get a hands-on experience” said one student. 

Students then were introduced to a mobile robot that also facilitates long-distance communication.   Since rural hospitals cannot physically have medical specialists often found in urban hospitals, this robot helps bring the urban specialist closer to the rural patient virtually.  This robot has a stethoscope that allows the doctor far away hear they live heart beat of patient hundreds of miles away.

Students then moved on to the hospital pharmacy where they saw two different robots dispensing and organizing prescriptions for patients.  Students were impressed by the robot’s ability to adjust to priority prescriptions (emergency room needs, for example) and then go right back to lower priority tasks.  The head pharmacist Barry mentioned “The robot has cut down on prescription mistakes-an important issue in any hospital”.

Not everyone enjoys a visit to the hospital.  But these students had their eyes opened to role of technology in medical field on this visit.  They got a first hand look at many associated career opportunities available to them someday related to both robotics and medicine.

      Do you know what % of calories and fat are found in a Quarter Pounder from McDonald’s?  What about a Chicken Wrap from Subway?  Follow this link   Healthy Eating Life Plan (H.E.L.P.)  to answer this question for yourself.  You may reset and order and see for yourself how much fat is really in a Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese.  Finally, place a complete meal order if you wish to a typical fast food meal has in calories and fat.

North Marshall FLL Robotics team’s compeititon 2010-11 theme is “Body Forward” .    After researching health issues during the Fall semester the team chose the problem “How can we promote cardiovascular health?”  After learning improper eating leads to obesity and that obesity can cause heart disease students decided to ‘ H.E.L.P.’

This program at the above link was created so that people will become more aware of the consequences of their food choice.

NOTE: To use the link Healthy Eating Life Plan,  you will need Microsoft Excel.  If you don’t have it, you can download Open Office.

How do you control the flow of fluid and powders within the endless pipes found at Calvert City’s largest chemical plant  ISP?

NXT Mindstorm Robot with numerous SENSORS attached

Lloyd & Patrick hold "discrete" turnable switches (on/off)

Mr. Padgett focused his presentation on Programmable Logic Controller’s  (PLC).  Notice the two in the picture below

The larger one is slowly being replaced with the smaller one.  The smaller one works faster that the larger and costs MUCH less.

It reminds me of the idea EFFICIENCY and PRODUCTIVITY.  Engineers make nice money because the save enterprises they work for MUCH money.

(Click on the pictures for more details on price

Foreground- New Small PLC, Background Older large PLC

These controllers process various sensors and transmittors.  

The many sensors and transmittors used at ISP

Valerie and Kaylee holding the (blue/silver) Sound frequency Sensor

Ethan and Chase with a Limit Switch

Dalton with a "discrete" turn switch.

Thanks Danny Padgett for coming and ISP for allowing him to share what a NMMS pre-engineering education has to do with the REAL WORLD! 

Accelerators 10-11

Today went well for Team Accelerators. The robot performance was poor at first but we didn’t give up hope and we ended up coming into first place.   The project blew the judges away. I didn’t think they where expecting the effort that we put into the project. The team work went excellent. Thanks to Robert for taking charge. We came up with a lot of ideas. The judges look a little impress. The technical judging could have been more organized with no one talking over each other. The faculty volunteers was really impressed with our work and talking to the judges about the mistake that they have made when he miss calculated the scores. They said that we have made them inspired. GOOD JOB EVERY ONE ! 12-11-10

Submitted by A. Crawford, 2nd year team member.

2nd in Research Presentation, 1st place Judge's Award

Press Release 01/10/10

North Marshall Middle School

The NMMS Robotics Teams Continue to 

Break New Performance Ground.

NMMS Robotics Competition Teams 2009-2010

North Marshall Middle’s two robotic teams braved the artic blast this past weekend to compete against 40 of the state’s best robotics teams.  The First Lego League (FLL) State Competition took place Saturday, January 9th, 2010 on Western Kentucky University’s Campus.  In only the NMMS program’s third year of competing, the two teams each won awards for NMMS at a First Lego League State Competition.  These are first official state awards any NMMS robotics team have ever won.

The Transformers’ Performance

TEAM Transformers  finished 2nd in Research Presentation impressing their judges with their

research, problem identification, and solution implementation.  Their solution centered around a Media campaign called “Arrive Alive, Don’t Text and Drive”. The team has created and have printed/posted  informational articles, created public service announcements (psa) in written form, and finally produced their own video psa about the dangers of texting while driving.  They have shared the facts they gathered with local government agencies,  written state legislators, and posted flyers at Marshall County High School.  The reaction the team liked best as they left the judges in the presentation room was “impressive effort”.  Team member Grant Miller commented, “One of last things we did in preparation was to make a power point showing visually that we had communicated at a local, state, national, and worldwide level (e.g., Team Blog, Facebook) about our campaign.  I think this helped the judges see the effort we put into addressing this important issue..”

The Transformers also showed their prowess with their robot.  Coach Andy Miller said, “We were making steady progress with robot performance all season.  We were getting 340-360 point runs in Friday night’s last practice.”   Their effort paid off on competition day.  This team  came up just 5 points  short of garnering another LEGO state trophy in Robotics Performance.  The 330 points gave NMMS its highest finish ever in this category with a 3rd place in the state.  This tops last year’s all-time team high of 6th place.   “We almost had 390 (out of 400) points on that third run”, according Robert Fitzgerald. His partner Wally Schmidt explained “We had the loops picked up that would have given us 60 more points, but the robot got stuck on the way back to base.”

The Transformers members are Josh Collins, Logan Coursey, Nate Dolbee, Robert Fitzgerald,  Steven Maness, Grant Miller, Valerie Rowe,  Wally Schmidt, and Taylor Stevens.  They are coached by Andy Miller and Kurt Schmidt.  Assistant Coach is Aaron Melton.  Mentor is Hank Hillman.

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THE WhaCHOOmakalitz’s Performance

TEAM WhaCHOOmakalitz shined brightly at this year’s state competition, too.  Although they didn’t get 1st or 2nd in any one category, they did score high enough in all 4 that they were awarded 1st place in the Judges’ Award. Judges comments included “This team’s enthusiasm for this competition and their sophistication in robot programming and design was undeniable.  We thought they were most deserving of the Judge’s Award.”  It is no surprise this team qualified for state with a 1st place performance in robot design, but it was their improvement in the other categories that was most notable.  Coach Brian Collins explained “Their research presentation was 10 times better than what was shared back in December at Regionals.  They took all the feedback from Regionals and worked hard to create a quality presentation on their topic.”  This team made a convincing case for the need for completion of the Ky Dam and Lock extension. Collins concluded, “It is very rewarding to see how much they have learned, how well they organized it, and how well they communicated it to others.”

The WhaCHOOmakalitz members are James Ambler, Noah Cox, Amber Crawford,  Emily Lee,  Ryan Livesay, Conner Morgan and  Adam Padgett.  They are coached by Bill Kunnecke and Brian Collins.

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A FULFILLING 3RD SEASON

Coach Kunnecke concluded “What a great season we have had.  We finally got one of those “LEGO trophies” at state! The experience of the last two years has been crucial to our success.  This year was truly a team effort combined with tremendous support of parents, school and community.  I can’t say enough about how hard these student were willing to work to perform at these high levels. They have learned valuable lessons about setting challenging goals and how much work it takes to make them come true.  I have very high expectations for my students’ performance, but the state judge’s positive reaction to our two teams surpassed my expectations this season.  The whole experience has created memories no one can take away from these young people.  I hope it inspires them to even greater things as they move into secondary and post-secondary education.” 

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Other Notes

Mentor Hank Hillman brought in several speakers for the students this year.  He noted “A special thanks goes to Sheriff Kevin Byars for coming to NMMS and sharing key information about distracted driving earlier this season.”  The team was also thrilled by the sheriff’s escort from the Marshall County Line to NMMS in honor of the team’s achievements Saturday Night.