Brewster High School’s Cybearbots are Finalists in FIRST’s Innovation Challenge presented by Qualcomm. For the qualifying round, 883 teams worldwide submitted inventions. For the semi-finals, 116 of those teams moved on. For finals, 20 teams remained.
Our task was to develop a product/invention that would help people stay more physically active. We were also required to make a business pitch video and make a business plan to go along with our invention.
We set out to make a device that would help the blind community. Brittany Ceron and Riya Gupta spoke with Sadi Taylor, a content creator who happens to be blind. Sadi gave us insight into what it is like to be blind and the difficulties that come with it. Sadi conveyed that detecting objects on the ground when using a white cane is not an issue, but seeing things above waist level, like a table or a tree branch, was more difficult.
That is how the Way-To-Go Cane attachment came to be. The Way-To-Go Cane would clip onto any white cane, making its use universal. When the Attachment detects an object within a certain distance, a vibration motor turns on, vibrating the cane, telling the user that there is an object ahead. The attachment also has BlueTooth capability, which would connect to the user’s phone. We wanted to include a panic button that, when pressed, will dial 911 from the users’ phone.
During our semi-finalist round, we made a 3D image of the cane attachment, and we were able to 3D print the housing for the cane. During finals, the team began to prototype and made the concept a reality. Our final event starts June 27th and ends June 30th; we will be attending virtual workshops, showcase our invention, and present to industry leaders and expert judges.

Watch a 3D rendering of the project here!

Bear Facts wishes the Cybearbots good luck in the finals! 

Vote here for them NOW!!! (Under First Robotics Competition!)