February 3, 2016  

High school teams converge on campus for Nanoline competition

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — People can see an alert system for school lockdowns and a power chair for toddlers with neurological disorders among the original projects competing in the Midwest Regionals for the Phoenix Contact Nanoline Contest at Purdue University.

The contest goes from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 6). Teams will be assigned rooms in Stanley Coulter Hall in the morning. Awards will be presented at 2 p.m. in Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry.

Eight teams from seven middle and high schools – six from Indiana and one from Ohio – will compete. A panel of five judges will look over the projects.

People are invited to view the projects beginning at 12:25 p.m. and also attend the afternoon award presentation.

Purdue professors Brad and Alka Harriger spearhead the regional event at Purdue and provide organizational support to this weekend's Southeast Regionals at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.

"The Phoenix Contact Nanoline Contest is a great way to spark interest in and enthusiasm for STEM, particularly logical thinking, computer programming and automation," Alka Harriger said. "It's a great way to respond to President Barack Obama's call to action to teach children programming."

The Nanoline is an intelligent and compact controller that automates multiple basic tasks. The projects call for teams to build a working automation system using the controller with related electronic components and nanoNavigator software.

Tool kits are provided to the teams along with gift cards to help defray the cost of additional materials for the student projects.

"The experience helps students understand what it takes to work in teams to innovate a fully-functional automated system," Brad Harriger said.

Two teams from Benton Central Junior-Senior High School in Oxford, Indiana, will compete again this year after winning the national event in 2015 with a T-shirt cannon. The qualifier from the Midwest region will advance to the national competition on Feb. 20 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

Writer: Brian L. Huchel, 765-494-2084, bhuchel@purdue.edu 

Sources: Brad Harriger, 765-494-7515, bcharrig@purdue.edu

Alka Harriger, 765-494-2565, harrigea@purdue.edu 

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