‘We’re making a positive difference’: Lafayette robotics students innovate to meet real-world needs – Daily Advertiser

Lafayette Parish high school studentsbuilt a modified bike pedal, made sensorsand programmed a microprocessor to help a little boy with a prosthetic leg ride a bike like his peers, and now their idea has garnered global recognition.

Team 3616 Phenomena ranked as one of 20 robotics teams out of 870 worldwide with its Innovation Project, placing them in the top 2% in the world in the 2021FIRST Innovation Challenge.

"It's a bicycle add-on kit that allows children with an impaired leg or compromised leg to bike-ride like other kids," saidHailey Menard, recent graduate of Ovey Comeaux High School on the team.

The idea for the bike add-on started with teacher Lisa Ranney, who leads the team. She knew someone whose grandson who would benefit from such an invention. Her students jumped on the idea, brainstorming ways to make it happen with Ranney and local mentors like mechanical engineer Kevin Bollich.

"I assist the team with technical aspects," said Bollich, who has mentored the team for 11 years. "Mechanical engineering and computer science are my background. Robotics pulls that all together."

He encouragedthem to pursue their ideas and workedwith them to make them a reality.

"The students are really sharp," he said.

Together they figured out angles, wheel speed sensors and programming for a motor to provide low-speed assist until the rider can pedal on his own, making it different from an e-bike.

They manufactured everything in-house at the W.D. and Mary Baker Career Center and tried to think through every potential problem.The modified pedal has a safety feature that keeps the prosthetic or compromised leg secure but also releases the leg should the rider fall.

"How it works," Lafayette High senior Trinity LeBlanc began,"once they've put their foot on the pedal, they'll push off with their other leg and pressthe low-speed assistbutton, and from there the bike will actas a normal e-bike until they reach a comfortable speed where they can begin pedaling and then release the button."

But it doesn't stop there.The microprocessor and small, add-on motorwork with other sensors to determine whenthe prosthetic leg needs anextra push to maintain pedaling.

"From there, all the other sensors and the microprocessor will work together to make sure it's a smooth ride," LeBlanc said.

Bollich said the project became personal to the students, and the potential real-world impact of the bike kit made them want to work harder.

There's a business side to the challenge, too. That's where William Ness, chief information officer with the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, came in this year.

"I helped primarily with the business pitch side of things," Ness said. "In addition to building the actual robot, for the FIRST Innovation Challenge students develop the robot as a sellable product."

They had to do their research to answer questions about market, costs, licensing, manufacturing and distribution for their report. Now they're putting that research into action, with plans to apply for a professional patent.

Once they've patented and licensed the technology, they hope to work with a nonprofit or other organization to make their bike kit available to more people in addition to giving itto the little boy who inspired the project in the first place, Ranney said.

"This has been a great opportunity to learn about patents andbusiness models, and we're also getting the chance to help someone," LeBlanc said.

"We're making a positive difference," Menardsaid.

More: Award-winning innovation: Lafayette robotics team develops valuable skillset through competition

Team 3616 Phenomena also earned other awards in this year's FIRST Robotics Challenge. The team also built a robot and programmed it to fulfill and compete in the global contest, and here the team also rankedin the top 20 worldwide, the only Louisiana team to do so.

Ranney said the students grew in self-esteem and confidence as well as their knowledge of robotics and potential career fields.

"This will have an everlasting impact on them," the teacher said.

Contact children's issues reporter Leigh Guidry at Lguidry@theadvertiser.comor on Twitter@LeighGGuidry.

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'We're making a positive difference': Lafayette robotics students innovate to meet real-world needs - Daily Advertiser