Students at the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Lille took part this year in the "My Machine" project launched by the Lille Regional Education Authority. The concept is simple and can be summed up in one sentence: design a robot, from dream to reality.
My Machine Project: a three-way collaboration
The robot was designed through a three-way collaboration. First, the idea for the robot was conceived by students in an elementary school class. They submitted a drawing and a simple description. Once this sketch was completed, the elementary school students gave their drawing to college students. The college students used the children's idea to develop a concept, which was then prototyped by middle and high school students studying technical subjects.
A waste collection robot
For this edition,Boufflers-Monge School, Franklin Middle School, Baggio High School, and the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Lille took part in the "My Machine" project. In October 2017, the students in a first-grade class at Boufflers-Monge School each drew a picture of their dream machine. Among the twenty or so drawings submitted, one stood out: a drawing of a robot that collects trash. Equipped with a mechanical arm to grab objects, this robot seemed feasible to the engineering students at the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Lille. They then began to design the robot. Although the secondary school students were originally supposed to build the robot, a few setbacks prevented them from participating. So, in addition to designing the robot for an initial group of four, four other students from the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Lille built the prototype of the waste collector as part of their second-year project. Based on the specifications defined by their predecessors, they had to ensure that the equipment worked properly. They therefore completed the initial specifications for the equipment (chassis, electronic cards, wiring, power supply), programmed the robot, and drew up a parts list and user manual.
June 7, 2018
The students at Boufflers-Monge School received their robot from Arts et Métiers engineering students Arts et Métiers Thursday, June 7, 2018. During the event organized by the elementary school for the occasion, first-grade students unveiled their show entitled "Engineers and Robots," a wonderful reward for theArts et Métiers engineering students.
