“”Logan High School was recently awarded a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant in the amount of $9,500 to create an energy management system for prosthetic limbs. The invention will harvest kinetic energy from human motion to generate and store electricity for prosthetic limbs. Logan High School is one of 15 high schools nationwide to be selected as an InvenTeam this year.
InvenTeams are teams of high school students, teachers, and mentors that receive grants up to $10,000 each to invent technological solutions to real-world problems. This initiative of the Lemelson-MIT Program aims to inspire a new generation of inventors.
“The InvenTeams program represents the future,” said invention education officer from the Lemelson-MIT Program Leigh Estabrooks. “We place an emphasis on STEM-focused projects to develop interest in these fields among youth. With InvenTeams, our primary goal is to foster high school students’ passion for invention, in turn inspiring them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering or math.”
Steve Johnston at Logan High School initiated the InvenTeam application process last spring and attended training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in June to help prepare the final proposal. A prestigious panel of judges composed of educators, researchers, staff, and alumni from MIT, as well as representatives from the industry and former Lemelson-MIT Award winners, assembled this fall and selected Logan High School as one of this year’s InvenTeam grantees.
The Logan InvenTeam will design and build an improved charging and use management system to supply electricity to an electric vacuum pump in a lower leg prosthesis. This will greatly improve an amputee’s freedom by extending the time he/she can use the limb without being restricted to plugging it into a wall socket to recharge. The invention will have an energy harvesting module that converts the kinetic energy produced in a walking motion into sustainable energy using piezoelectric or electromechanical technologies.
The Logan InvenTeam has partnered locally with Hanger Clinic and the Limb Lab of La Crosse and 5280 Prosthetics in Colorado. They will also work with local medical personnel and engineers who will guide the students through the development of their invention.
“One of our goals is to provide an authentic engineering experience for students,” said Logan High School technology and engineering department teacher Steve Johnston. “However, in completing this project, they also have an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.”
Over the next nine months, the Logan InvenTeam will develop its Energy Management System for Prosthetic Limbs. In June, the students will showcase a prototype of their invention at EurekaFest at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. EurekaFest, presented by the Lemelson-MIT Program, is a multi-day celebration designed to empower a legacy of inventors through activities that inspire youth, honor role models and encourage creativity and problem-solving.
ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM
Celebrating invention, inspiring youth
The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding inventors and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.
Jerome H. Lemelson, one of U.S. history’s most prolific inventors, and his wife Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by The Lemelson Foundation and administered by the School of Engineering at MIT, an institution with a strong ongoing commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for K-12 STEM education.
ABOUT THE LEMELSON FOUNDATION
The Lemelson Foundation uses the power of invention to improve lives, by inspiring and enabling the next generation of inventors and invention-based enterprises to promote economic growth in the US and social and economic progress for the poor in developing countries. Established by prolific US inventor Jerome Lemelson and his wife Dorothy in 1992, to date the Foundation has provided or committed more than $175 million in grants and PRIs in support of its mission. For more information, visit http://lemelson.org.””””[vc_single_image image=”14652″ img_size=”625×417″ alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”]””
