Grab the Lab project participants at FAV have advanced to the finals of a national competition

Students from Masaryk High School in Pilsen control a crane or a loader using natural arm movements, eliminating the need for complex levers. In partnership with FAV UWB, they built an intuitive controller and reached the finals of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition.

High school students Jan Toman and Jaroslav Kudrna developed an intuitive controller for the arm systems of heavy machinery. It can be used to control excavators, loaders, or industrial arms. Unlike current lever-based controls, this solution is more natural and ergonomically friendly for users. In fact, lever controls can lead to physical health problems for operators during intensive use. And that is precisely why the design was recognized by the jury of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow innovative ideas competition. The jury sent the pair of high school students to the finals along with nine other teams from the Czech Republic.

Jan and Jaroslav developed their controller in the laboratory of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (FAV) as part of the Grab the Lab project. Their design is based on basic ergonomics. The operator “puts on” the control arm and moves it naturally, as if moving their own arm. These movements are transmitted in real time to the control system of the second arm, which executes them immediately. “We’ve never done such a large-scale project before, so we were caught off guard when we had to stop several times, reevaluate our results so far, and set out in a new direction. It was a tremendous experience for us,” Jan Toman shared.

The finals of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition will take place on April 23 in Prague. The top ten teams will present their proposals to a panel of experts. The high school students from Plzeň will present a version of the controller designed for a small robotic arm. However, they believe that scaling up to an industrial level is merely a matter of further development. In the coming period, they therefore plan to focus on refining motion tracking, expanding practical application possibilities, and making ergonomic adjustments to the design.

FAV provided the students in the Grab the Lab project with facilities, equipment, the opportunity to consult with experts, and funding to purchase materials. “Grab the Lab is an opportunity for high school students interested in science and technology who want to experience what it’s like to work in a real research environment,” said FAV Talent Ambassador Martin Úbl, who oversees the project at the faculty and mentors talented high school students interested in technical fields. Student teams who aren’t afraid to come up with their own ideas and want to see them through to the end can still apply for the Grab the Lab call for the next school year. Details and the application form are available on the project website.