FIRST Robotics Team Creates New Knee Brace Prototype

FIRST Robotics Team Creates New Knee Brace Prototype

One FIRST team from Austin, Texas, isn’t just building robots. It’s also testing and developing a new concept for a knee brace that could help millions.

It started with Larry Kravitz, a family practitioner and doctor for the NBA D-League team, the Austin Toros. Kravitz sees many patients with ailing knees. At the 2011 National Instruments Conference, he explained to a crowd of thousands that current knee-brace designs force the entire pressure on the body to the outside of the knee, an area where knee joint damage is most prevalent. "He noticed that there needs to be a more efficient knee brace, so he looked for a remedy," his son Isaac says.

When Isaac enrolled in the robotics class at Austin Anderson High School, he sa ys his father knew the way to create a working knee-brace prototype was through students. Enter the ausTIN CANS, Austin Anderson’s FIRST Robotics group, which competed as team 2158 in the FIRST robotics national competition in St. Louis this weekend. "The FIRST robotics team was sought out to bring the idea to life," team member Moritz Freid says.

Team 2158's basketball-playing bot. Credit: David Cawthon

With the help of biomedical engineers from the University of Texas, the ausTIN CANS chipped away at the knee-brace problem. At first, the team implemented springs to gently separate the knee and distribute body weight evenly on the joint. A later version implemented flexible plastic rods that pushed the knee apart.

David Yankoshak, the team’s founding mentor, says that the partnership with those working on the brace and those constructin g the robot has benefited the group. "We have a diverse mix of creativity and knowledge on the team," he says. And Yankoshak says he’s not the only one doing the teaching. "I learn just as much from them as they do from me," he says. "It’s inspiring to get kids to pursue something like this."

The group is immersed in the long and tedious patent process and seeking funds for their venture. But though it’s a long process, team members are plenty excited by what they’ve done so far. "I’m proud to put a lot of time and effort into a project that is going to change people’s lives for the better," Freid says.

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