MIT InvenTeams

    Hello everyone! School just started and Commack's technology department is still getting back into the swing of things. Soon will come more posts about our projects, designs, and more! In the mean time, I just wanted to talk about how some other engineers and I spent our summer.

    Every four years, Commack participates in what is known as the Lemelson MIT InvenTeams. This competition requires a small, dedicated group of students. The process runs over the course of approximately a year until you finally reach the end, which is physically going to MIT. The whole idea of the competition is to create an invention which will make a change in the world. Whether it is something that is a solution to a major problem, or your own general creation, the process is totally worth it.

    This year, Commack was lucky enough to have eight truly dedicated students as well as an incredible advisor to spend countless hours with while working on this project. The other students and I put in time once a week, every week, during the summer to meet with each other and work on the most important part of this process; the proposal. The proposal gives all of the details behind the design, the problem, our solution, and most importantly, our budget. In the proposal, we had to state what materials we would need to use, as well as its expense. Our proposal is used as our submission meaning that if we get in, MIT will send us all the money we need for the project. After that we get to build the whole thing and then head over to MIT in June for the actual competition. 

     This whole competition involves the use of the Design Process. After brainstorming a lot of ideas and issues in our world, we came up with a portable, in car solution to wrong-way driving. Approximately 350 people get in wrong-way crashes each year. However, our device can fix that. Our device will be able to detect signs and will immediately alert you when you are driving the wrong direction. This device can be used in all car models. It will be small and compact, but it will do it's purpose. It can be very beneficial and decrease the amount of wrong-way crashes each year.

            Though we cannot predict what will happen in our future, all we can say is that we worked as hard as we possibly could on this project already. We have gotten so far and we are so proud of that accomplishment alone. Working together as a team isn’t always easy. Agreements, disagreements, different ideas, etc. are all factors that make group work more complicated. However, our team worked so well together and made so much progress. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to work with these people. I am so proud of the success we’ve had already. 

Thank you to Mr. Castrogivanni, our advisor, as well as congratulations to our members on how far they have come:

Jared Becker

Anthony Bisulco

Binoy Daniel

Daniel Lukach

Ashley Cooper

William Claus Jr.

Claire Drotman

Alexa Girimonte

     Below is a picture of the hardworking students as well as our advisor (minus Binoy):

     I hope you all enjoyed this post! Hopefully this inspired you to work in a group and maybe come up with your own life-changing invention! 

~Ashley 

New York Institute of Technology Engineering Showcase

     On Tuesday, April 9th,  for the second year in a row, Commack was lucky enough to attend the New York Institute of Technology(NYIT) Engineering Showcase. This is one of the biggest events throughout the whole year for technology members in Commack. This is a time where students from various schools get to display their ongoing projects to a panel of judges. The judging panel consists of NYIT staff, Cradle of Aviation members, Verizon workers, Motorola staff, and even students of NYIT or other colleges. The top three winners are chose by the judges each receiving a monetary prize.
     In order to prepare for this event, about 10 of us worked together and stayed after until around 9:00 at night or later almost everyday. To help pass the time, we had some delicious meals as well as some fun times. Below are pictures of us preparing for the showcase:

     This year, Commack had three groups; The Eye Hand, A Facial Identification Quadcopter, as well as a Body Motion Controlled Quadcopter.   The first group consisted of Daniel Lukach, Jon Raitses, and Daniella Azoulay. The Eye Hand was an innovation in Blind-Sensory technology. This device allows people to detect things at different distances based on the rate of vibration of the prototype. For example, if a student were to walk into a wall while holding the device, the closer the student gets to the wall, the stronger the vibration will be. In the future, making this contraption into a small glove can easily assist the blind and make finding objects more efficient.
     The second Commack group was the Facial Identification Quadcopter by Anthony Bisulco, Ashley Cooper, and Binoy Daniels. The goals of this project were to build a stably flying quadcopter that can identify faces. In addition, we thought this project would improve the amounts of surveillance throughout the world.  With the use of a small camera, the Quadcopter is successfully able to detect/identify people's faces.  In the future, low scale Quadcopters can be used on planned investigations as well as solving a crime.
     The third Commack group was entitled the Body Motion Controlled Quadcopter. Stephen Mendez as well as Kayla Houshmand believed this project demonstrated a unique way of controlling a wifi remote Quadcopter with the help of a Mircosoft Kinect. By standing in the view of the kinect, whatever direction your body moves, the quadcopter moves with it. For instance, if you move your body left, the quadcopter will shift left as well.
     Overall, Commack did very well. We placed in two of the top three monetary winners. The Eye Hand recieved first place which earned a $1,000 check. However, the Facial Identification Quadcopter recieved third place, as well as $600. The Body Motion Controlled Quadcopter received the Creativity Award.  Commack came home with the most Creative award as well as $1,600 all in one day. Below are our pictures from this amazing experience as well as a video of the Body Motion Controlled Quadcopter!

Check out these links to two awesome videos of Stephen and Kayla's Body Motion Controlled Quadcopter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FTzb03JbH0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx5N5RaKC7k

~Ashley Cooper

National Technical Honor Society Inductions

     On March 20, all new members of the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) were inducted. To get into the Honor Society, students are required to have previously taken two technology classes as well as consistently receive a certain GPA and have experience with technology in clubs or outside of school. 

     Throughout the ceremony, our advisor, Joseph Castrogivanni, had several opportunities to speak, as well as a friend of his from STEM, and all of the student board members of the honor society. All new inductees received a certificate, a pin, a NTHS "license" and more. All senior members graduating this year received a NTHS honor cord to wear at graduation. Below are pictures from the inductions:

     The ceremony was very exciting for all new members who received the special honor to be in the NTHS. They will all continue their success and improvements throughout their remaining years in high school. We wish the best of luck to all of the seniors who are graduating and leaving us this year and thank them for all the improvements and differences made in the society.

~Ashley

Bridge Contest Day!

     March 16 was the day all students were waiting for; The Brookhaven National Lab Bridge Building Contest. Students had previously worked very hard on the construction and design of their bridges all in preparation for this day. Though some people may think this contest is very easy, it is not. There are many requirements and specifications needed to get into the contest. The website below lists all of the specifications:

http://www.bnl.gov/education/static/bridge/linkableFiles/pdf/2013-BNL-MODEL-BRIDGE-SPECIFICATIONSrev112112.pdf 

     Overall, Commack did very well in the contest. Unfortunately, the strongest Commack bridge, built by Evan Kirshen, was disqualified. Weighing 15. 42 grams, Evan's bridge held a load of 79.3, creating an efficiency of 2332.677, which was greater than the winning efficiency (1954.172363). The reason for Evan's disqualification was due to the fact that there needed to be a 3/8 inch hole through the bridge at each of the three loading positions. The hole is not used at the BNL contest nor at the school, however it is used by some locations making it a requirement. It was not a very clear requirement in the specifications, therefore we will be sure to never forget that key point. Additionally, even if Evan had added the space, the weight of his bridge might have slightly increased but his bridge would be just as strong making his the strongest if not one of the strongest. Below is a picture of Evan's successful bridge:

    Fortunately, the other Commack students did very well in addition to Evan's success. Patchogue Medford still took the top spots, however Evan's bridge did surprise everyone. We will be back next year to give all the participants a run for their money. Thanks for reading! 

~Ashley

Busy Bridge Building

     Students were very excited to hear it was that time of year again! The Brookhaven National Lab Bridge Building Contest was coming up. Students taking Creative Design and Drawing (CDD) were all eligible to participate in the contest as well as any other additional students. In the class, each student was required to have an AutoCAD drawing of their bridge design as well as a man-made bridge to break in class or for the contest. All of the kids spent about a month in class working on the project as well as any additional time they put in. Here are the pictures of the student's processes:

~Ashley

Paperclip and Straw Tower Results

     Yesterday was the day everyone was waiting for; Judging Day.  I got the honor of judging the whole competition. As soon as the students arrived to the club after school, they were given approximately a half hour to add their final touches to their towers.

      The judging began precisely at three. There were five towers that made it to judging, however our vice-president Scott built one which was the tallest, but he did not want to be counted in the judging race. Scott's tower measured 94 inches which is the equivalent to 7 feet, 10 inches. While judging, I had to find the tallest tower as well as the most interesting tower. I looked for three things: height, efficiency, and which would be easiest to build in real life. We had a tie for third place which went to both team "Sam" and team "Ligers" for both building square shaped towers that measured 2 feet tall. Our second place tower went to team "America" who had a very simple tower that measured 83 inches or 6 feet 11 inches. And finally, our first place tower went to the freshman team "42" for building a tower  that measured 84 inches or 7 feet exactly. It was a very close race! Additionally, we had one more award. The final award went to the most creative and efficient tower. Team "America's" tower was not the tallest, but the most efficient and would be easiest to build in real life. Our first place team and most efficient tower team each received certificates as well as a box of Mallomars. Congratulations to all of the participants and great work everyone! Below are pictures of the judging and results.

     Thank you for reading! Hope you can use this post as inspiration for ideas and fun in your own school or club!

~Ashley 

Paperclip and Straw Towers!

     The Future Engineers Club at Commack High School is certainly starting to become very popular! Last week, our vice-president, Scott, came up with a fun, exciting contest for everyone to participate in. The idea of the contest was to build a tower made of only paperclips and straws. The winner of the contest would be the group who made the tallest tower. However, there would be a prize given to the most creative tower as well. 

     To begin the contest, the club members got into small groups. Each group came up with a very creative name. Additionally, each group got to come up with a design for their tower to make it as strong, tall, and as interesting as possible. Here are some pics of the groups over the past two weeks working together to make their towers:

     Next week our vice-president will be judging the completed towers to determine the winner! Want to know who won? Well stay tuned and look back next week to see the winners!

~Ashley