The Haverford School wins Harvard’s International Soft Robotics Design Competition
HAVERFORD » It wasn’t enough to win the 2017 Harvard University Soft Robotics Design Competition on their first try. The members of The Haverford School Soft Robotics Club also garnered a provisional patent on their design, the first patent for the school.
The ingenious design that the eight students developed is based on Gummy Bears and is edible but it’s their own formula. Upper School science teacher Holly Golecki, who recruited the kids for the club last winter, said the students’ invention could have far-reaching applications in the biomedical field because it can interact with cells to perform functions like delivering medicine or helping organs or tissues to work.
The team started out using silicone, which is the usual material for the new field of soft robotics, but they were eating Gummy Worms while they worked, said Aditya Sardesai, 15, a sophomore from Blue Bell. They got the idea to try to use Gummy Worms to make their device, since silicone does not break down in the human body. But the gummy candy material, after it was melted and shaped, became too hard and was “like a brick,” he said. So they developed their own formula “that works better as an actuator than store bought Gummy Bears,” said Sardesai, who is interested in pursuing a career in biology or biochemistry.
“We modeled the same pneumatic network in the silicone material with the gelatinous sugary snacks,” said Matt Baumholtz, 17, of Wynnewood, a senior. Although he likes science and math, he plans to get a liberal arts degree, and decide which field he’ll go into later.
Forcing air into the pneumatic network or “actuating it” causes it to expand or move, he said.
“Our actuation was, it bent, almost like a finger bends,” said Sardesai. Their invention could end up becoming a heart sleeve that would be surgically implanted but would not need to be surgically removed since it is biodegradable, he said.
It took numerous attempts before the teens were successful. The melted gummy candies were sticky and stuck to the molds and broke them, said Sardesai, which is another reason they decided to develop their own formula, using corn syrup, gelatin, water and flavoring.
The students were surprised and happy to win the Harvard competition.
Baumholtz had just lost a water polo game then got the text the club won. It was the opposite for Buonocore, who just won a golf tournament when he got a text with the news.
“We didn’t even think about winning,” said Sardesai. “It just became so cool what we were doing. We got engrossed in our work. We knew we were going to submit it to the competition. We were very happy with what we did. Even if we didn’t win, I would be very happy with the work we did.”
Cal Buonocore, 18, a senior from Newtown Square added, “Winning was an added bonus. We went through a lot of failures along the way.” Buonocore plans to study biology or bio economics.
“I had no idea what it was,” said Buonocore, about soft robotics. “It was totally foreign. I was quite apprehensive in the beginning and fell in love with it…The idea that we created something with Gummy Bears… for me it really opened my eyes to a field of science.”
Also, younger kids can relate to their design, he said. The club members showed it to kindergarten students and believe their Gummy Bear concept can be used at the elementary school level to build children’s interest in robotics. Haverford lower school students have a robotics club through their after school program, said Golecki.
Golecki, who because the advisor for the school’s VEX Robotics team last year, heard about soft robotics through a friend and invited students to join the club. Haverford also has a VEX Robotics program in its middle school.
“It formed pretty organically,” she said about the new club. The students started meeting Fridays after school but “by the end we were meeting every day. It was all driven by them and their passion.”
The students made molds for their designs with a 3-D printer. They sent an email to a Harvard professor after reading about his research to ask for a file for a mold to print on the 3-D printer, which he sent to them.
Golecki is “most proud” of the students’ project and also that they were able to communicate their work. The new field of soft robotics is accessible to high school students, she said.
“I was so proud,” she said. “How could you not be proud?” The students kept trying until they were successful.
The club “came together to create an awesome final project,” said Buonocore.
Bram Schork, now in eighth grade, created an air pump to control the air flow to automate the gummy actuators, said Golecki. Intel Chen, a junior, made a video about the invention: http:// sandbox.softroboticstoolkit.com/Food-For-Thought
They had a lot of documentation about their invention that was required for the contest, which they sent to a patent lawyer, Francine Li, who is the mother of club member Kyle Wagner, said Golecki. Li found their invention was “novel,” said Golecki. They will file for a final patent in June.
Meanwhile, the soft robotics club continues to meet this school year.
“My goal for this year is to have it actuate in water,” said Buonocore.
Baumholtz was not sure whether the club will build on their current project or head` in a new direction.