Here’s how much fun these students were having: When their teacher said it was time for lunch, more than a few kids groaned and said they weren’t ready to leave their work behind.
The 15 students from the robotics club at Highland Renaissance Academy, part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, were in the early stages of building and testing prototypes for a contraption that can shoot baskets. Tinkering with cardboard, gears, motors, rubber bands and tape is more fun and entertaining than lunch.
And they were working at Novant Health’s Innovation Lab, where health care innovations of the future are waiting to come to life. The institute operates out of Enventys Partners in uptown Charlotte. Enventys helps inventors take their ideas from napkin sketch to production; the company handles all aspects of product design, engineering, prototyping and market launch.
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The robotics club has met several times at the Innovation Lab to design, build and test their invention, which will make its debut at the Jumpman Invitational basketball tournament Dec. 20-21 (More on this in a minute.)
“You’ve got to be on your toes when kids come in,” said Matthew Floyd, who manages the space and its programming. “When you’re bringing in physicians or investors, you’re already in that business mindset. You can imagine and prepare for the questions they might ask. But with kids, their questions come from every direction.”
Novant Health has partnered with Digi-Bridge to offer programming for kids to create, from the ground up, a basket-shooting robot. Digi-Bridge works with Title I schools within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to help ignite a passion in kids for science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) learning.
Novant Health team members have been volunteering with Digi-Bridge since 2020, said Digi-Bridge CEO Alyssa Sharpe.
“Novant Health understands the importance of inspiring the next generation,” she said. “They have been incredibly generous in providing mentors, volunteers and learning opportunities for our students to understand the future of health care and health care technology. When we ask, Novant Health is always the first to raise their hand.”
How to build a robot
Building a robot that can shoot baskets takes a number of steps. Digi-Bridge uses the FIRST LEGO League framework, explained Kaity Scruggs, Digi-Bridge’s strategic initiatives program manager who helped guide kids through the process.
The kids first built a Lego model. “The next challenge is to make a robot that can shoot a basketball,” Scruggs said. “At our second session, the kids brainstormed, sketched and came up with some fantastic ideas – a slingshot, a conveyor belt and a drone, for instance.”
The drone garnered the most excitement. And Digi-Bridge lets students go where their interests lead. Digi-Bridge projects are all student-led. Not even the teachers know what the outcome will be.
Next step: Building the low-tech prototypes – the ones students were making on that day they were too engaged to break for lunch. Later that day, Digi-Bridge brought in a drone expert, Markus Perry, to give a demo and help the kids refine their designs. The last steps, which happened the week after “prototype day,” were coding and testing.
Olivia Sisley, one of the Highland Renaissance teachers, said the students are learning about “teamwork and collaboration.”
“They’re learning that everything won’t work the first time you try it,” she added. “They’re learning to have a growth mindset and to think outside the box. They’re getting creative and learning those 21st century skills.”
That’s exactly what Digi-Bridge aims to teach. CEO Sharpe said, “There are a lot of careers that don’t actually exist now that these kids could go into in the future. The world is facing so many complex challenges now, and these students are going to have a role in solving them.”
Showing people what’s possible
As exciting as a basketball-shooting robot is, it’s far from the most exciting innovation that may emerge from this lab. The Novant Health Innovation Lab, operated in partnership with Novant Health Enterprises, is a hub for solving all manner of health care challenges.
Novant Health providers and team members are using the space to pilot new devices and develop new technologies – including those using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
Lindsay Kort, who serves as an “innovation ambassador,” works part-time in the Innovation Lab in addition to her role as senior director of new business growth. She said VR is already being used at Novant Health in a number of ways: “Anxiety reduction and well-being mindset work are two uses. Headsets are being used at our cancer center for patients while they undergo treatment. They sort of ‘escape’ via virtual reality from the treatment as it’s happening. It can be used for physical therapy and rehabilitation. And, we're using VR in training scenarios with our HR team.”
“The lab gives us a way to expose a broader set of Novant Health team members to innovative technology that’s being introduced to our organization,” Kort continued. “It's also a space where folks can touch and feel a lot of the new technology and products being introduced in health care. It's a vehicle for expanding community partnerships and a cool, creative, inspiring space that helps build community. It makes us part of the entrepreneurial product development ecosystem.”
The Charlotte space may soon have company. Kort said Novant Health is looking at space for an Innovation Lab in Winston-Salem, and there's already one in development in the Coastal region.
Floyd said the space is meant to “be transformative and show people what’s possible.”
Hoop dreams
The robotics club will have a big audience for the debut of their hoops-making drone. They’ll get to demonstrate it at the inaugural Jumpman Invitational presented by Novant Health.
Taking place Dec. 20-21 in Charlotte, the event will feature both the men's and women's teams from the original four schools to sign partnership deals with Jordan Brand in both basketball and football: Florida, Michigan, North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Jumpman is the first basketball tournament to highlight both men and women equally. The competition will take place over two days, with one men’s team matchup and one women’s team matchup each night. On Dec. 20, it’s Michigan vs. UNC (women) at 7 p.m. and Florida vs. Oklahoma (men) at 9:30 p.m. On Dec. 21, the matchups are Michigan vs. UNC (men) at 7 p.m. and Florida vs. Oklahoma (women) at 9:30 p.m.
But the students are probably less excited about the games than they are about seeing their drone on the Jumbotron. They all get to attend the tournament and take one adult with them.
Latasha Monford, who teaches technology at Highland Renaissance and serves as the robotics team facilitator, said, “The kids stop me in the hallway every day at school and text me at night just to confirm the day of the tournament and that it’s still happening. We are all so excited to be part of it.”
