‘Eye-opening of what’s out there’
EVI students show off skills at Innovation Fair
Thanks to an interest in technology and robots, two students from Exploits Valley Intermediate (EVI) recently experienced something no students from Central did before.
For the first time, groups from Newfoundland and Labrador took part in the Atlantic Innovation Fair and the students from EVI in Grand Falls-Windsor, their teacher and Brilliant Labs mentors were the only group from Central in attendance.
Grade 9 students Suzie Huang and Tyler Parsons showed interest in the robotics portion of the after-school program run by mentors Brady Mitchell and Michael Blackmore from Brilliant Labs, an Atlantic Canadian-based registered charity that works with youth, educators and communities to develop creativity, innovation, digital skills and a socially responsible entrepreneurial mindset.
“I always grew up around tech,” Parsons says. “A lot of people in my family are in technology and a lot of my family said get into tech, it will open doors for you. When the opportunity was given, I took it.”
Huang joined robotics “because I wanted to create one. I wanted to see how they work and it was just something new that I hadn’t joined yet.”
When the idea to attend the fair in Moncton, N.B. came up, EVI learning resource teacher/technology teacher Thomas Caines was nervous it wouldn’t happen. But the partnership with Brilliant Labs’ Ashley Dwyer, mentors, students and teachers made it reality. In just a couple of months they had the concept built, tested and in Moncton.
“Let’s just say we missed a lot of classes,” Huang says with a smile.
The robot? PetCam.
“I know that quite a lot of people from the province travel for work or whatnot and a lot of them have pets but can’t always watch them. There’s pet cams out there but they are stationary so why don’t we have a pet cam that we can control and watch other people’s pets from away?” Huang says.
They tested it in the school gymnasium and it could be operated from one end to the other.
“The piece of technology that the camera was attached to had a phone extension that you could control everything on your phone,” Parsons says. “We couldn’t have actually done this without the help of Michael, Brady, Ashley and Mr. Caines. Without those four this probably never would have succeeded. Our ideas went far but they took it next level.”
The Atlantic Innovation Fair had 192 projects and more than 1,400 youth participating from all over Atlantic Canada.
“It was so crazy to walk in and see all the different stuff that people invented,” Parsons adds. “That was wild to me.”
The building was huge, had a full section for green energy, a robotics section, a section for fashion, and a lot more creative innovation.
“There was a girl with a robot that plays the guitar,” Huang says.
“There was a whole AI robot that could move,” Parsons adds.
“It was mind-blowing,” Caines says. The biggest lesson learned from the experience is a great life skill to have.
“Patience,” says Parsons. “There were a lot of things that went horribly wrong. Our (robot) broke on the plane and then when we were there a kid stepped on the camera.”
“We had to duct tape it,” Huang adds. “They definitely learned about the patience and de-bugging which is a big part of life,” Caines says. “I think they got an increased interest in technology and the opportunities that are out there. They got a once-in-a-lifetime trip to go see some of this stuff which was super cool and that occurs when you are working on things.”
Overall, the trip was amazing, though fast and furious, Caines says.
“It’s mind-blowing when you look at the scope of innovation that’s taking place in Atlantic Canada and especially with youth,” Caines says. “Definitely eye-opening of what’s out there, what’s available and what youth are capable of.”
PetCam 2.0 is already being planned with improvements and things they can do differently for next year, Caines says. He said the program is offered at EVI but open to students in Grades 7 to 12. He is hopeful they can continue the partnership in the fall.