GEARS and the Saint Joseph Health System recently announced a new partnership to excite children about becoming future health care engineers. They are hosting a four-event robotics challenge for students in grades 3 through 9.
According to GEARS Director, Scott Chase, “The events will use the FIRST LEGO League Hydrodynamics field kit and will be hosted at different Saint Joseph Health System facilities.” The FIRST LEGO League is offered to students in elementary and middle school from August through December each year. But many of the participants request off-season events to strengthen their robot building skills. This challenge will offer them that opportunity.
Robots are becoming more advanced and are appearing in additional industries every day. They help humans perform tasks that can be dangerous, require precision, are repetitive or even in exploration like the Mars Rovers. Chase shared, “we need to get today’s youth excited about designing, building, programing and maintaining the robots of tomorrow. The easiest way to do that is by hosting robotics competitions.”
Members from the Saint Joseph Health System are experiencing this first hand. They recently purchased a da Vinci Xi Surgical System robot to help physicians perform operations. By adding this devise to their collection of other surgical robots, they have increased their capabilities in robotic surgery. And with more and more robots being used, they are seeing a need for future healthcare engineers. They are hoping to inspire local students to learn more about this growing field.
The new challenge is based on the most recent FIRST LEGO League game, Hydrodynamics. The challenge is open to all students in the community and they can sign up in one of two ways. First, if they were on an FLL team in the fall, the entire team can sign up together and continue to work on their existing robot. Or, if they were not on a team, they can join a community team at GEARS and build a new robot. Additional registration information is on the website.
The four-event series will begin on February 10th at the Saint Joseph Health System Mishawaka Medical Center. Additional dates are March 3rd in Plymouth and March 24th in South Bend. The final event is being held on April 22nd at the South Bend Mini Maker Faire at the Success Academy. At each event, teams will run their robots and try to score the most points on the game board. Teams will be ranked by their best of three performances and they will earn points for their finishing spot. The team that accumulates the most points during all four events will win the grand prize.
The grand prize is as unique as the challenge itself. The winning team will receive a Champion’s Trophy for their hard work and a new LEGO MINDSTORM EV3 kit for their continued growth. Also, they will get to be “doctors for a day” and name the da Vinci robot. Members of the winning team will get to tour the surgical facilities and see first-hand how robots are being used in healthcare. They will also get to permanently name the robot.
If you have a student currently in 3rd through 9th grade, visit www.gears.org.in to find out more about this new robotics challenge and how you can register to be a part of fun. GEARS is an ETHOS Science Center Program.
