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Robotics room a bustling place

Mission Secondary students are working on some amazing projects
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It’s a lab where students work laboriously over anything from a plastic, 3D-printed hand that mimics the movement of your own limb, to a mousetrap that sends you a text message instead of actually killing anything. Owen Munro Photo

Room 225 at Mission Secondary School is a bustling place these days.

It’s a lab where students work laboriously over anything from a plastic, 3D-printed hand that mimics the movement of your own limb, to a mousetrap that sends you a text message instead of actually killing anything.

Mission’s robotics program is the brainchild of Jeremy Ellis, who has been a computer programmer and coder for 40 years. He says it was only made possible by the three high schools merging into one, where students have virtually every single resource available.

“Most high schools will have a robotics club where they buy these Lego Mindstorms and they’re like $6,000 for four kids to work with,” Ellis said. “Unfortunately, there is a bit of play with the other stuff, but we’re in here actually learning how to make things.”

He says the program hasn’t completely caught on yet, but believes that will soon change. With more attention being given to coding in B.C. high schools, there’s a push to create and fill more technology-based jobs. That’s also reflected in the school curriculum, where math and physics-based courses give students a strong base to work with if they come into Ellis’ class.

Everything that runs in the class is largely made possible by a $19 credit-card-sized computer called Raspberry Pi. Ellis says they don’t strain the purse strings and they are being used in a number of creations, even in sending satellite images back to Earth from space.

He also has the program structured over two years, so students can learn a little more at their own pace and not worry about the expectations of homework and studying.

Students study coding, robotics and 3D printing, but it largely falls on Ellis to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“My job is to get the stuff working so it’s easy enough for the kids to get creative,” he said. Ellis estimates he spends two hours per night outside of the classroom trying to make sure everything is both up to speed and up to standard – and that’s if he doesn’t have to solve a problem.

By Grade 12, the students are largely on their own to develop something that they want to work on, much of which is made possible by Raspberry Pi and the 3D printers.

One student is working on a cat toy that detects the colour of a pet cat and activates a laser beam when it starts to play with it.

Another student created a 3D-printed duck that replaced the classic bag of flour or sugar “baby” project that most kids in home economics class participate in, with a sensor that sends a text message to the teacher if the duck is “rocked too hard.”

“It has an accelerometer in it, so you have to rock that [the duck] for it to shut up,” Ellis said. “So that’s killed the bag of sugar. And the teacher can even send a signal to it, at two in the morning if he or she wanted to.”

For the students, creating something that is both practical and creative makes this a must-take class.

Ethan Erickson-Lachance, Brody Maxwell and Dakaro Mueller worked on the 3D-printed hand that can be set up to mimic your own fingers. Little flex strips represent each individual finger, which can bend and grab small items like a box.

“It’s cool to actually finish this, and it’ll be fun to keep working on it to see what else we can do,” Erickson-Lachance said.

Going forward, Ellis said he wants to transition more kids from his Grade 11 classes to Grade 12, which is a continuation of the classes they are already in.

He said there are still some misconceptions about what he wants to accomplish with the class; he said some students are drawn to the Game Development 11 class because of the name, not knowing it’s similar to a Physics 11 class.

“You’ve got two courses that are kind of hard, some not everybody likes,” Ellis said. “I really encourage them to keep the physics and the math.”

It’s the first year the Robotics 12 class has been in place, though, and he sees potential in it. He said he’d like to see a system where the focus isn’t on a single subject like math or physics.

“Don’t make math or physics more hands-on than it already it is. They already do enough labs. Have them do that and this.

“I don’t think enough courses really push the whole, ‘It didn’t work, what’s your next step?’ ”