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TAMS students to investigate ways to commercialize invention
Students at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science at the University of North Texas have received a grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to engineer equipment that helps people with physical disabilities perform their jobs at a Fort Worth company. TAMS is one of 16 schools across the country to receive a grant from the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams initiative, which is designed to excite high school students about invention through hands-on learning. TAMS students received $7,860 for their project. A team of students is designing and building an Ergonomic Spool Assembly System, an adjustable table that allows workers in wheelchairs to assemble spools. The equipment is for workers at EXPANCO, a Fort Worth company that provides packaging, assembly, shredding and secured document destruction to clients. EXPANCO's workforce is comprised of adults with physical and/or mental disabilities, many of whom are referred to the company by Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County. Students in the Junior Engineering Technical Society at TAMS began working on the project last year after meeting with EXPANCO company officials, who said one problem they had was workers in wheelchairs could not assemble large spools. The spools have cardboard body tubes that fit into grooves in two wooden end bases. The spools are constructed on low, horizontal workbenches, and workers must stand to look down the body of the tube and insert metal dowels. Workers in wheelchairs could not assemble the spools because they could not stand to insert the dowels and because the workbenches are too low to roll a wheelchair underneath them. TAMS students invented a table with an adjustable height. Before applying for a Lemelson-MIT grant, the students won second place at the National Engineering Design Challenge, a competition in which high school students design assistive technology devices to help persons with disabilities enter or advance in the workplace. "We're now taking our invention one step further and trying to improve upon what we've done," said Irene Cai, a senior at TAMS and vice president of JETS. "It's such an honor to be able to do this kind of work and see our project to the end." Students will investigate ways the table could be mass produced on a cost-effective level and made adaptable for tasks in addition to assembling spools. Using most of the grant money for materials, students will evaluate aluminum fencepost, Plexiglass and carbon fiber to determine which works best. By the end of this year, they hope to have completed a prototype and apply for a patent. To complete the project, the 30-member team adopted a corporate structure, splitting into four divisions: - purchasing
- communications
- design
- manufacturing
Each division has a vice president, said Jeremy Lai, president of JETS. "It's been a learning process for all of us," Lai said. "We're getting to take things we learn in the classroom and put our invention to real-world use." The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) is a two-year residential program at UNT that allows talented students to complete their freshman and sophomore years of college while also receiving their high school diplomas. Students enroll in the academy following their sophomore year in high school, live in a UNT residence hall and attend UNT classes with college students. After two years, they enroll at UNT or another university to complete their education. The Lemelson-MIT Program was established in 1994 at MIT by Jerome Lemelson, one of the nation's most prolific inventors. The program recognizes outstanding inventors, encourages new and sustainable solutions to real-world problems and inspires young people to pursue creative careers through invention.
UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Sarah Bahari (940) 565-4835
Email: sarah.bahari@unt.edu
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