By Joey Bottini ’19
THE ROUNDUP
Brophy Students enrolled in the classes in the Innovation Commons (I.C.) have been working on creating a final project that would incorporate several different techniques they have learned over the semester.
Mr. Zachary Widbin said his students have been learning OnShape, a CAD Design software, along with learning how to use the laser cutter and the 3D Printer.
“The final project is totally up to their choosing as long as they are using one element of circuitry and coding, and one element of CAD design,”Mr. Widbin said.
The students are required to do an introductory project before moving on to to their final projects.
Conor Nannen ’21, a student in one of the four Intro to Innovative Technology courses, said he is finishing his work on a remote controlled car for his introductory project.
Nannen started by using the laser cutter to cut out his car’s body and wheels, and then used coding with a Sparkfun Redboard to make the car go forward and backward with turning abilities via a remote signaled controller.
Mr. Widbin said that out of the six classes in the Innovative Commons, four are currently finishing work on remote controlled cars for their introductory projects, while the other two created micro golf holes.
“My students had to create a putting mechanism to get a marble rolling across a desk, and they also had to be creative to create an obstacle like you would see on a mini golf hole,” Mr. Widbin said.
Nannen said that some of the final projects being put together currently are an automatic pet feeder, a phone locator, an automatic plant watering machine, a motion sensored lighting system and a motion sensored camera.
Many of these ideas are solutions to everyday situations such as feeding pets or finding a lost phone.
Eli Kreisberger ’18, a long time member of the robotics club, said he is currently working in the I.C. to make chess pieces with the goal of creating an entire chess board.
Kreisberger is not in the Innovative Technology class, but he has been working on OnShape to design his chess pieces, and he has been using the 3D Printer to construct them.
“I really wanted to start using the I.C. more often because I have been in the robotics club for a long time,” Kreisberger said.“There is so much to do with the technology in the I.C. that I decided I needed to take advantage of the tools the room offers.”
