Mechanical Arm Challenge
Hi, my name is Matthew Schwertfeger. I was a part of the 2019-2020 Williams Fay*West*Greene Mechanical Arm Challenge. This is a challenge involving engineering. You must produce a machine using fluid power! This means syringes working as hydraulics. Our Laurel Highlands Middle School consisted of two teams each containing four contestants. Team #1 was Maggie Knight, Hanna Lucente, Casey Karwatske, and I. Team #2 was Zoe Robson, Bailey Balint, Aubriana Pesuti, and Erilyn Machesky. They were both great teams and we worked together great! Take a look down below and see us describing our experiences!
Team
#2➡
Team
⬅#1
Team #1
Here is a little bit about team #1 and their experience.
"The Mechanical Arm Challenge was an amazing experience. I learned things that I never would have learned without it. Fluid Power taught me how to be cooperative, a team sport, work better in stressful situations, and it taught me about the importance and capability of hydraulics. This event was overall amazing and I would love to participate again."~Matt Schwertfeger
"Liquid fluid power is a great interactive way to learn. I loved this experience. Liquid fluid power has taught me how to be hands-on in a fun way. I am glad I have had the chance to get involved."~Hanna Lucente
"The Mechanical Arm Challenge was amazing, but what made it amazing was our team. We always worked together and had good communication, even when our machine broke at the competition. If I had anything to say to next year's team, it would be communication is key."~Maggie Knight
Team #2
Here is a little bit about team #2 and their experience.
"My personal experience for fluid power was fun, stressful, and exhilarating. I had a lot of fun getting to know my teammates better and even making friends at the competition. We all worked extremely hard on this project. Some of us were working every day and we even put in hours after school. Overall, it was a great learning experience and taught me the values of time management and planning things out."~Erilyn Machesky
Participating in the Fluid Power Challenge is one of my favorite memories from this year. I loved my teammates and the teachers that helped us. It is a great feeling to build something from scratch and see it work the way you wanted it to. It was challenging at times, like when you are running out of time to build, and frustrating when your project doesn't work. But overall, it was a great experience; I learned a lot. It may have been stressful, but it was thrilling. I am glad to be able to say that I was a part of it. I would recommend it to anyone who likes engineering, creating, and hands-on projects."~Aubriana Pesuti
At the end of the day, team #2 did take home an award! They got first place for Best Design and Operation.
"Doing the video project was a fun opportunity. It was cool to learn about how the company’s touchscreens were manufactured. I liked how we got to know the employees, tour around the facility, and then made a video on TSI Touch."
~ Maci Chester
What's So Cool About Manufacturing Video Contest
Take a look at the video!
The video contest was a fantastic learning experience! Our Laurel Highlands Middle School team met up with TSI Touch employees to learn about their company. TSI Touch is a company that creates touch screens for multiple companies around the world! We conducted many interviews and collected lots of footage to produce the video. Sadly, due to the Covid-19 school closure, our video was not eligible to compete in this year's regional or state competition.