SPOKANE, Wash. — Engineering students at Sacajawea Middle School are working on a project to improve the Spokane Police Department's bomb disposal robots.
Engineering teacher Kim Taylor initially saw a demonstration from one of the robots at a STEM conference and some of the components of the robot were outdated. That's when she put the task to students.
Their job is to design gloves to put over the grasping mechanism so the robot is able to pick up smaller objects.
Students are also building legs and a connector for two x-ray frames so police are able to get better images.
"I'm designing the foot and creating it on the computer so then we can 3-D print it," said eighth grader Hallie Brigham. "It's like really exciting that we're actually helping people and it's not just going to waste that we are doing it for a grade, it's actually going to be used for a purpose."
Taylor said if things go well and other police departments are interested, students could have their work cut out for them.
"They are going to share this with all of the bomb squads in the United States and maybe international, so potentially we could be making lots of pieces and sending them to them," Taylor said.
Students will donate their creations to Spokane police soon in hopes that it will make their jobs easier and more efficient, while also keeping them safe.
Taylor said the eighth grade class is all about community service and students use their skills to help the community in any way they can.
