Jan 27, 2022 4 min read

One of the classes I teach is called Business and Bots. I came up with the name based on the fact that the students are running a business to ensure ample funding for the robotics part of the class. Basically, within the class, there is an opportunity to take part in SWPA BOTS IQ (a battle bot competition) or to take part in Project Invent. BOTS IQ includes having an industry partner which allows the students to look at manufacturing careers firsthand, and then obviously learning about the BOT systems needed to create a competitive BOT. With Project Invent, the group has a community partner and works with them to identify their needs and how they can then address a need through invention. Since I have two sections of the course, I technically have 2 BOTS IQ Teams and 2 Project Invent Teams. I actually had an article run in the MVI last year regarding BOTS, but Project Invent is a new partnership I started just this year.

 

One team has partnered with a former Monessen student who is now wheelchair-bound and living with a brain disease. The group is looking to make a conversion kit that could basically motorize any push wheelchair without the absurd expense of buying an electric wheelchair.

They’re trying to take a regular push wheelchair and trying to build a kit. You can take the wheels off their normal axles 

What they’re trying to do a make a soltuion that not as expensive.

The other group is partnering with a current Monessen student who is legally blind. As she has told them herself she isn’t looking to learn Braille as this is a fairly new disability for her, they are working to create a keyboard overlay that will have touch features for key recognition, and then audio as well to ensure she is typing the correct letters each time. Project Invent has not been around too long nationally, but more information about the program can be found at