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Students win first place in statewide engineering competition

Leea Powell

Special to the Village News

Students from Fallbrook High School won first in place April 28, in a highly competitive statewide engineering competition. Lianna Arnold, 16; Kyle Bequette, 17, and Nick Holemo, 18, created the "Handinator 3000" in their biomedical engineering and advanced engineering class.

The robotic prosthetic hand, which was entirely student designed and created, has full mobility and control, as well as the ability to sense and relay pressure to its user.

The Handinator's myoelectric – muscle – sensors are able to take in muscle sensing data that moves each finger. The haptic – touch – feedback has embedded pressure sensors that work in conjunction with a vibration motor that is able to relay the feeling of touch on the fingertips to a different part of the body.

Students were involved in every stage of development, from concept and design, to creating a custom circuit board from scratch, to building and testing the prototype.

Fallbrook High School's award-winning engineering program is run by Matt Eaton, who has been a teacher at Fallbrook High School for the last four years. When asked about the scope of the assignment for this project, Eaton explained that his students were capable of creating complex projects, and the goal of this project was to focus on how students can use their skills to improve lives around them. With this goal in mind, the Handinator 3000 was created.

Students won the regional level of the SkillsUSA competition Feb. 2, where they qualified to compete in the state competition. With the most recent win, the Fallbrook High School team is now planning a trip to compete in the national-level competition at the end of June in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the first time that students from Fallbrook High School have received this honor. Another student, Felyciti Alvarez, placed third in the Welding TIG division of the competition.

The biomedical engineering class is a part of Fallbrook High School's Career and Technical Education pathway in engineering. Students in the CTE Engineering Pathway can explore a number of high-wage, high-skill career-based courses focused on the principles of engineering, robotics, biomedical engineering, design-based thinking, manufacturing, welding and transportation technology. Courses integrate rigorous mathematics and science academic standards with hands on contextual learning.

Donations are accepted to Fallbrook High School's CTE Engineering program and can be sent to the Fallbrook High School District, 2234 S. Stage Coach Lane, Fallbrook, CA 92028.

Submitted by Fallbrook High School District.

 

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