JACKSON, Wyo. — On Wednesday, April 17, three Jackson Hole High School (JHHS) students in the High school Students United with NASA to Create Hardware (Hunch) program will present their gravity-defying cleaning robot to the NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Hunch is a school-based program that partners with NASA Centers. Students work in teams to fabricate real-world products for NASA and astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The JHHS NASA Hunch program team (Emma Blount, Aidan Kim-Miller and Eli Olais) competed with the rest of the class in a regional competition judged by NASA representatives and college professors in Billings, Montana on March 5. Their team was chosen, among three other teams nationwide, as finalists for their Kwadropus suction cups.
“There are only a few finalists in the country, so to have designed and prototyped something that impresses NASA is an honor,” Blount told Buckrail. “It goes to show that even something as seemingly unimportant as space dust on the ISS is a problem that needs to be solved, and we’re helping solve it.”
The Kwadropus or “space Roomba,” is an automated four-armed, octopus-like robot that is designed to cling to the walls of the zero gravity ISS, and keep the walls clean. The soft robot uses flexible arms for mobility and suction cups for traction, and a duster appendage can remove dust from handrails and varying wall surfaces, including flat, curved, rough and smooth. The suction cups can act independently to change shape and to support the robot’s weight.
“Funnily, people take gravity for granted,” Olais said. “They forget that on earth dirt and dust just fall to the ground, so it becomes easy to sweep. On the other hand, dust is everywhere on the ISS. Creating a prototype for the Kwadropus’ movement allows us to directly influence the creation of a space Roomba.”
The team applied their science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills while working on their project for the ISS. NASA Hunch teacher Keane Anderson shared with Buckrail that the program helped the students to gain real world experience.
“This project allowed students a great sense of independence as they navigated prototyping and fixing all of the problems,” Anderson said.
Blount, Kim-Miller and Olais will present their project to NASA representatives, and get a behind the scenes look at Johnson Space Center.
Team member Kim-Miller reflected on his excitement on visiting and working with NASA.
“As a kid, everyone wants to be an astronaut,” Kim-Miller said. “Then you grow up a little and realize how unattainable it is. Even to work with NASA, I thought you had to be some genius who did 8+ years of school. When I learned that I, a high school student, had an opportunity to work directly with NASA, I knew I had to capitalize on it.”
