COLUMBUS, Ind. — A local student robotics team is working to help community volunteers assemble and test ventilators for use in emergency treatment of COVID-19.
Members of team 4926 (also known as GalacTech) of Columbus Robotics are no strangers to intense projects. Every year, the high school team competes in For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) competitions that require both teamwork and technological ingenuity as they build and program industrial-size robots to play difficult field games.
In February, Columbus Robotics president and Team 4926 founder Sam Geckler said that process was as close to real-world engineering as a student could experience.
Now, eight months later, Columbus Robotics is involved in a project that, from a real-world standpoint, leaves industrial-sized robots in the dust.
The group’s latest challenge? Assemble and test a set of ventilators for emergency use in the middle of a global pandemic.
“This is about as real-world as it gets, and for high school students to get that opportunity is unique,” Geckler said.
Mission Columbus leader Steve Ferdon said the project started when Columbus Regional Health approached Mission Columbus in mid-March and asked if they could bring together engineers to quickly design and build emergency ventilators and respirators.
Barry Turner, owner of Turner Machine Specialties, was part of the original design and manufacturing team. Turner focused on the ventilators portion of the project while Ron Hale, director of engineering at Cummins, Inc. concentrated on the respirator portion.
RHOHM, a Columbus electrical engineering and circuit design firm, has also been involved with the project. A number of engineers, machinists, supply chain professionals, medical professionals and retirees have also been collaborating on the project as a Volunteer Organization Acting in Disaster.
For more on this story, see Monday’s Republic.
