international - Bergische Universität Wuppertal

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robots set an arm anD a leg in plaster
Teamwork and tech-
nique, science and
technology, but above all fun
– that’s the central message
of NRW’s ‘Future through Innovation‘
project. In 2011 this
took the form of a robot competition.
Sixteen teams from
ten cities vied with each other
at UW to present the most
creative solutions for the trickiest
problems. Using FIRST
LEGo® League educational
software, young robot buffs
planned, programmed and
tested autonomous robots
that had to master a series of
tasks.
With 6 weeks for school
teams to develop LEGo robots
Entitled ‘Body Forward’,
this year’s competition focused
on the exciting world
of biomedicine, a branch of
the healing sciences that
combines traditional biology
with chemistry, mechanics
and electrical engineering to
develop optimal patient therapies.
“Place the pieces of
bone against the outline
and fit the blue plaster
cast. The plaster must face
downward and cover the fracture”
The 2011 challenge started
with a simple repair on a broken
arm. The teams were given
two pieces of humerus
(upper-arm bone) made of LE-
Go, and a blue plaster cast.
We had to consider what a robot
would look like and what
movements it would have to
complete to fulfill the task.
We started programming and
testing. It worked. The 25
points for the task were ours
and we could turn our attention
to the next assignment,
mending a broken leg.
other medical tasks followed:
white blood cells must be isolated
from red, malignant cells
must be destroyed. The movements
of the robots were
precisely defined – that was
the essence of the task – as
became clear when we had
to repair a cardiac defect. Here
any mistake would cost a
patient’s life. And there were
another 25 points for a successful
pacemaker implant.
Sarah-Lena Debus
Project Coordinator
Bergisch Schools Science
and Technology Program
(BeST),
Rainer Gruenter Str. 21
42119 Wuppertal
Tel. +49 (0)202 439-1833
E-mail info@nrw-best.de
BeST offers are free of charge
for school students. For
further information and membership
visit
k www.nrw-best.de
With kind permission of
HANDS on TECHNoLoGY,
organizer of FIRST LEGo
League, Central Europe
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