Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari High School was announced as a semifinalist in the annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest and is New Mexico’s only remaining representative in the national STEM competition.
THS juniors Dominick Jasper and Caden Thomas, coached by Rattler Robotics club mentor Tommy Evans, made the cut with an autonomous robot that checks the interior of buildings for temperature and moisture changes and sends an email or text if it detects a possible problem. The robot uses a Roomba vacuum cleaner as its base, along with a variety of sensors and computer programs.
Tucumcari High School received $15,000 for being among the 75 schools in the U.S. that advanced to the semifinals. Evans said that money will be put back into THS’ robotics program to buy better supplies for projects.
The students also received a Samsung Galaxy Note20 to help them shoot a video that will be submitted by March 21 for the next round of competition.
“Both of these young men are pretty hard workers and good students,” Evans said. “Dominick wants to be an engineer. Caden, I think, wants to go into renewable energy. When I applied (for the contest), I thought it would be a great opportunity. Plus, this would look awfully good for scholarship applications.”
Evans said if Tucumcari makes it to the seven-team finals, it will receive another $65,000 in prize money. He said he was confident they could do well at the next level.
“I think it’s going to depend on our video. If the video comes out really good, we have a shot,” he said. “It’s a pretty good project. I think the judges will see the real-world application.”
In addition to hard work by the students, Evans credited the nonprofit Rural Education Advancement Program, based in Los Lunas, for providing materials and technical assistance.
Evans acknowledged he came up with the idea for a robot that would detect water-pipe leaks or rapid temperature changes.
“I had this floating around in my head for a while,” he said. “There’s been gymnasiums in Albuquerque with a million dollars worth of floor damage because a heater didn’t come on and a pipe busted. Even with a small leak, if a building is closed for days, it’s going to have some damage. If you had something to monitor it, you’d prevent it.”
Evans said the robot also could be improved on so it could act as an autonomous security guard.
“I feel like the next step is a regular camera and an infrared camera,” he said. “Even it’s pitch-black in that building, that infrared camera can pick it up if somebody walks in or can detect if someone accidentally left a door open.”
He said such a robot would be useful for buildings that don’t have people in them often, such as a warehouse or an office building that’s empty because employees are working remotely during the pandemic.
The top three finishers in the contest will receive $130,000 each. Those will be announced in April.
Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow Contest, in its 11th year, challenges students from sixth through 12th grades to use STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills to address a community challenge.
Evans said he soon will offer Tucumcari’s robotics program to more students after school as an extracirricular activity.
“Since we’re so limited with the COVID stuff, maybe I can keep more kids engaged after school with some different projects,” he said.