Digital Learning

Coronavirus: STEM Students Join Forces With Companies To Make Hospital Equipment

Students at a Trust in Warrington have combined with local companies to make desperately needed masks and shields for the NHS. Chris Hillidge, Director of STEM at The Challenge Academy Trust, talks about how rising to the Coronavirus challenge could change the way D&T is viewed by politicians.

Make – Almost - Anything is our slogan at Fab Lab in Warrington. I manage the STEM strategy for 8000 students aged 4 -19. A major part of my job is to work with local industry and SMEs so together we can develop unique opportunities for students in the science and technology sectors. Right now, we are making masks and shields for the NHS and this could be a game changer for the status of D&T in schools.

Warrington is well placed. It has always been a manufacturing town, famous for its wire production, but in the local area there is a wide range of engineering jobs. It is a major centre for Amazon, for logistics companies and around Wilmslow and Knutsford there is a huge CAD and digital industry with many smaller companies that are not yet household names.

At Fab Lab we have computers, 3D printers, laser cutters, robotics, drones, virtual reality technology and traditional craft tools. Our mission is to open up opportunities and get students working alongside experienced professionals and local industry. Some students come from socio-economically deprived backgrounds and do not come into contact with people working in these industries in their day to day life.

Tech for Good

We are big advocates for Tech for Good. This is a community of people, projects, organisations and funders. Together we promote the role of technology to improve social, environmental and economic outcomes.

Some of our past projects show what Tech for Good is all about. The NHS does not provide prostheses for children who have lost a limb through medical conditions or accidents. This is because children grow so quickly that these would need to be replaced regularly. A family approached us with a prosthetic 3-D print file. We scaled it down and 3D printed a model in a few hours. This was featured on the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-merseyside-39225488/warrington-school-makes-boy-5-prosthetic-hand). It generated a lot of interest. In fact, we were contacted by people all over the world and worked with 50 families, scaling different models to meet their needs.

We undertook another ground-breaking project with Bentley Engineering to design an aerodynamic safety tricycle that would be a mixture of electric and pedal power. The aim was that the vehicle would travel 60 miles each day on less than 20 pence worth of electricity whilst producing zero emissions. The cyclist would stay safe and dry in a weatherproof composite safety cell and would pay no insurance or road tax. This chimes with the current movement to save the planet and would dovetail with the increasing investment in cycling infrastructure including improvements to the London Cycle Superhighway.

Coronavirus and us

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