Cooperation Station

As Lower School classmates, WT Lifers Troy Husni ’16 and Jake Averch ’16 reveled in “Rock’em, Sock’em Robots” battles during extended day. As seniors, memories of their spirited sparring sparked plans for an imaginative Computer Science Innovations project.

“We wanted to recreate a similar game with servo motors and joysticks,” explains Husni. “As our idea evolved, however, we realized we should make a product that is a bit more innovative. Mr. Nassar suggested the idea of two robots working together to solve a common problem, and we just went from there.”

Called Cooperation Station, the game features a two-armed robot station that teaches cooperation skills to young children as they work together to solve a puzzle, using only robotic arms and the joysticks that control them. The puzzle consists of seven force resistors, three of which light up at random, and three weights for the robotic arms. The weights and the randomly-lighting LEDs are color-coded red, blue, and purple; it is the users’ goal to place the weights on the sensor it corresponds with based on the color of the sensor’s light displays. Husni and Averch refined the game through several iterations before arriving at the finished version that delighted visitors at the 2016 STEM Symposium.

“In some cases, the light and weight (in corresponding colors) might be on completely different sides of the board,” notes Husni. “When this happens, kids need to work together in passing the weight to each other so that the player who can reach the illuminated light may place that specific weight there.”

Early-stage consultations with Dave Culyba of Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center were important to the game’s development, says Husni. “Mr. Culyba advised us to choose between making a puzzle based on our arms, or arms based on our puzzle.”

Averch was in charge of coding the entire program and wiring everything together while Husni learned Inventor, a mechanical design and 3D CAD software program, to design the product. “I learned how to model gears in CAD modeling to create the claw pieces. I made the arm of the robot in four pieces to fit together like a puzzle, and extruded holes in a pattern for each part to conserve plastics and keep weight to a minimum.”

Those items were 3D printed, but Husni says the board’s large size required another technique. “Mr. Marx suggested the ShopBot [a computer-controlled router used for cutting parts designed in 2D and 3D CAD] at TechShop. So I took a class, took measurements of the arm and sensors, and got the final sketches for our puzzle. I spent about six hours at TechShop the day I cut that board with the ShopBot. Then Jake and I assembled pieces and wired everything.

“I loved the process of designing and making everything fit together,” continues Husni, adding that the biggest challenge was simply getting started. “I just took everything step by step and planned out what I would be doing each week as guided by one of my all-time favorite teachers, Mr. Nassar. It was such an awesome feeling when I put the 3D printed parts together to make the first working iteration of our robotic arms but honestly, it was hard to compete with Mr. Nassar’s excitement.”

Though Husni had never touched a 3D printer or modeling software before Cooperation Station, the experience was rewarding—and revelatory. “I was obsessed, and I do mean obsessed, with Legos as a child. This was almost like adult Legos to me. I discovered a whole new world of modeling and design that I plan on continuing as a hobby in college.”

Cooperation Station also brought Husni’s education full circle. “This project was so much fun,” says the rising Indiana University Bloomington freshman. “I had a great partner and a fantastic teacher. I couldn’t have asked to end my Winchester Thurston career with a better class.”