Scifest 2010

This year’s Scifest competition in DKIT went ahead with six entries from Dundalk Grammar School taking part. Students from 6th class up to 5th year were involved. DGS were the deserved winners of 3 prizes, the Junior Technology Award, the Best Senior Project and the Project Maths Award.

 

1st year students Robert Kierans and Eamonn Ryan took the Junior Technology Award for their project on a Bluetooth Remote Control Robot. They designed and built an ergonomic remote control using Lego Mindstorms NXT technology and were able to demonstrate the versatile control of a robot built using the same technology. Their success was much indebted to the work of 5th year student Andrew Samson and his project on Lego Mindstorms Programming which enabled the control to effectively communicate with the robot. Andrew's project investigated a variety of programming applications for the Lego Mindstorms technology.

 

5th year Applied Maths students Alejandro Cuevas, Deepka Abbi, Conor Finn, Richard O'Brien, Adam Byrne and Lawrence Steen were also winners of two prizes for their project on Projectiles. They scooped the Best Senior Project and the Project Maths Award for their extensive analysis of the flight of a tennis ball fired from a pressurised cylinder which involved a spark plug to ignite deodorant and launch the ball into the air.

 

1st year students Peter Lonergan and Liam Haughey along with 2nd year student Aaron Nordon entered their project on Electric Motors. They used music recording software to measure the revolutions per second of a simple copper coil turning in the presence of a magnetic field with varied voltages and coil sizes.

 

3rd year students Alexander Lee Simpson and Ferdia Hayes entered their project of a Robotic Arm capable of working in situations where humans cannot. They tested the resilience of Lego under the presence of various chemicals and put forward the versatility of their design which could be enabled with Bluetooth remote control to ensure the safety of the operator.

 

6th class students Aoibheann Ni Ealai and Ben Saurin were allowed to present their design project on a Home Help Robot which also utilised the Lego Mindstorms Technology. Their robot was completely automated and capable of detecting its surroundings by use of ultrasonic, touch and sound sensors. The programming of their robot again owed much thanks to Andrew Samson and his project.

 

The event was a roaring success for all students involved and DGS will hope to return to next years Scifest. (And thanks to Science teacher, Mr Cullen, for all his work and support).