| NEMO (the Navigating
Electroactive Polymer-controlled Module with
Onboard Resources) is a robotic fish capable of sensing the
distance between itself and other fish. It reads the temperature
of its environment, and communicates wirelessly with a base station and
with other fish. Designing NEMO is a “Design Day” grand challenge
given to Michigan high school students annually through the pre-college
outreach program of the Center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems (WIMS).
The design challenge is led by: Drew Kim, the WIMS education program associate
from the University of Michigan; a Michigan State University (MSU) assistant
professor, Xiaobo Tan; graduate student Stephen Shatara; and several undergrads.
The Center is an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) headquartered
at the University of Michigan, in which MSU is a partner.
Traditionally, Design Day
at MSU has invited a significant number of pre-college students for activities
ranging from engineering student presentations, to poster judging, to a
couple of simple builds. The WIMS Center invites high school teachers
and a couple of their most promising students for an all-day Saturday training
session in advance of Design Day. During the training, teachers are
provided with a curriculum and the Robotic Kit, valued at approximately
$500. Each school involved in the competition works on the NEMO over
the course of the semester and presents their findings at Design Day, along
with their finished and functional robotic fish.
The WIMS NEMO competition
started in December 2007 with four high schools, and two more are added
each year. By 2009, teams from eight high schools from Michigan presented
their designs to a room-full of spectators, including siblings and parents
of the students presenting. The event is covered by local TV stations
and newspapers.
WIMS plans to continue adding
two new teams each year, using the experienced returning teams as “mentors”
to the new teams. The development of the NEMO High School Competition Web
Link is also underway to connect each of the participating schools as a
forum. |
