Columbia’s Army Ants youth robotics team wins international award for smart compression stocking – Columbia Daily Tribune

Several awards were announced, with polite applause in response from those gathered in a classroom of the University of Missouri Agriculture Engineering Building.

Then, a louder cheer went up when Army Ants was announced as the winnerof the 2021 Global Innovation Design Award in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Army Ants is a youth robotics team, but this competition went beyond the realm of robotics.

The FIRST Global Innovation Awards featured teams from the United States, Mexico, France, Brazil, India, Norway, Israel and Tunisia. The awards presentation was online,and Army Ants team members, mentors and guests viewed from a large screen in the classroom.

They celebrated with home-baked brownies and milk.

"I think we did great as a team," saidZihao Zhou, 16, a Rock Bridge High School student. "We put a lot of hard work into it."

The team developed a smart compression stocking,calling it the Sensor Platform for Orthopedic Compliance after Knee Surgery, or SPOCKS. They were still working out bugs in the prototype after the conclusion of the online awards ceremony.

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The stocking has sensors inside to measure quadricep activation, range of motion and weight bearing to help people recovering from knee replacement surgery meet recovery goals.

One sensor is an inertial measuring unit with an accelerometer and a gyroscope to measure rotation and motion, respectively. Another sensor measures the amount of weight the wearer is putting on the knee. Activity is logged on an app via a Bluetooth connection.

Jessica Barnard, a home school senior, tried it on as other students were testing the prototype.

"It's pretty comfortable," she said. "It's not too restrictive. I can feel it, but it's not painful. I would get used to it if I wore it all day."

Adult mentors for the team are MU faculty members Kevin Gillis and Anand Chandrasekhar and software engineer Andy Winslow.

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The award puts Army Ants in the top six teams in the world,Gillis said.

"I think we are pleased and really proud of what the team has accomplished," Chandrasekhar said.

Curious was how Sierra Luttrell said she felt before the awards were announced. The junior home school student measured and sewed the pockets for the sensors.

"I do think we have a chance of getting in the top five," Luttrell said. "I'm definitely curious, including about what other people did."

Her thoughts afterward?

"We are apparently very good at designing things," she said.

Army Ants started in 2010-11 and includes 35 students. The team is managed by the not-for-profit Columbia Educational Robotics Foundation and is a 4-H-affiliated club.

rmckinney@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1719

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Columbia's Army Ants youth robotics team wins international award for smart compression stocking - Columbia Daily Tribune