good evening everybody my name is
Janelle Laros I am from Kailua Kona
Hawaii and I’m a member of the class of
2017 my entire life I have always been
fascinated by science but absolutely
horrible at math but regardless growing
up I always participated in my school
science fair and when I was a sophomore
in high school I was looking to fill
another science credit so I signed up
for robotics now when I first walked in
I immediately felt out of place because
the class consisted of a clique of
senior basketball boys just trying to
get the credit
a group of genius computer kids who had
already spent years coding and a
whopping total of two other girls in the
class who also were incredibly brilliant
but regardless of how out of place I
felt after a week of being in the class
I realized that I love robotics I love
being able to use my hands to create
design and build something which then
comes alive I loved it so much that I
wanted to continue robotics in a more
complex and challenging a program and i
was per that’s oh excuse me i then did a
year-long indepence science research
course to pursue robotics during my
junior year and i then continued it into
my senior year which brings us to where
we are today where i am building a what
multi-jointed robot controlled by
specific bio signals so with this
project I was given the space to learn
how to code build and design in a self
led and non-traditional classroom
setting I was able to reinstall my love
for science which contributed to my
furthering my interests in my other
classes as well as academically
challenging myself in science finally
this project has allowed me to redefine
my self identity as someone who cannot
be stopped by their weaknesses so what
is a multi-jointed robot controlled by
specific bio signals so my goal was to
build a four-legged robot that had a hip
and a knee joint at each leg and that
would be controlled by bio signals bio
signals are
any signal that are in living beings
that can be continually monitored or
measured the three of the three bio
signals I was using was EMG
electromyography which is the
electricity of your muscles ECG
electrocardiogram and EEG
electroencephalography which are your
brainwaves EMG your muscles would
control the initial joint movement of
the robot ECG your heart rate would
control the speed of the robot and EEG
your brainwaves would control the
direction of the robot and as you can
see this is a diagram of the most recent
prototype that I’ve built this is the
third one and this is all of the labels
as you can see the foot and the knee and
the hip joint the Arduino which is the
brain of the robot and several different
battery packs and a breadboard so I
first started this project by learning
more about bio signals I was able to
learn about bio signals through a
company called backyard brains which
creates basically arduino-compatible bio
signal equipment the first ones that I
was studying was EMG and ECG this led me
to design my first prototype which I
made out of Legos what made this
prototype unique is that I created the
tendons basically out of string and
elastic was which was then connected to
excuse me which was then connected to a
fixed point on the robot this is an
animation of the first prototype and now
this is an animation of it trying to
walk creating a walking robot is a
harder than I thought it was going to be
the tendons basically they couldn’t
support the weight of the chassis and
the Legos also broke under tension this
led me to create my second prototype the
second prototype instead of the string
being connected to a fixed point on the
chassis it was connected to a servo and
if you don’t know what a servo is
basically let’s say you have a motor
which is a continuous rotation and if
you have a servo then you put you can
put like specific degrees and that’s
where the servo turns so this had a
servo which was adjusting the tension in
the rope this was a lot more of a more
successful method but the same time
since it was Bill
out of metal it did not break like the
Legos did but it was not able to support
its own bodyweight so this led me to the
summer between my junior and senior year
in the first semester of my senior year
I took time for to research the three
parts that I research is first I took
the time to further my knowledge in
coding specifically the code language of
C++ which is the language that Arduino
uses I also took this time to research
other multi-jointed robots such as Big
Dawg by Boston Dynamics as well as other
3d printable multi-jointed robots that I
could study their joint movement and see
how I could apply that to my project in
this time I also was able to learn how
to use AutoCAD which is an online
computer-aided design program which is
similar to CAD which is another kind of
program that most engineers use I did
this so I could design my project before
going into the third prototype then this
leads us to where we are today this is
the third and final prototype that I’ve
built
instead of having tendons with rubber
bands and string I actually just made
another servo to be the knee here is an
animation of it being able to pick
itself back up I know I know
oh and here this is a video this is a
progression of my robot over the past
two years so this was at the end of my
sophomore year when I first got the idea
for it this was the first design that
you saw earlier this is the first
prototype as you can see there were many
struggles along the way
and this is the most recent prototype
and now this is most recent video we
have a bit walking now you see every
servo movement is a specific degree that
we had to input into the code and you
can see as the code reel oops
it stands itself back up so each of
these are specific like angles and
that’s about it
so as you know I am graduating and my
influence on this project is coming to
an end but next year Oh me next year I
have two rising juniors Jackie pain and
hailey Emmons who will be taking over
this project both young ladies have
advanced knowledge in physics coding and
robotics and I know that they’ll be able
to come they’ll be able to continue the
project in ways that I couldn’t so now
why is this important especially because
as you saw the presentation I did not
finish it I did not integrate the bio
signals into the robot but I know that
with Jackie and Haley continuing it they
will be able to hit the ground running
and implement bio signals into the
project but over the course of the past
two years I was able to study and
research all of the bio signals in
isolation I made three different
prototypes I taught myself a CAD program
and furthered my knowledge in C++ and
Python
I studied biomechanics and movement
which I then applied to my project this
project also allowed me to win my
school’s 2016 engineering ward as as
well as being selected as one of the
statewide winners for the National
Center for Women and information
technologies aspiration and computing
award now if you told 15 year old me who
is intimidated by an elective robotics
class that one day be recognized for
in computing I would not have believed
you but recently I also realized that it
isn’t about the recognition that this
project is about its legacy the other
day a freshman actually came up to me
and she said that the reason that she
wanted to pursue independent science was
because of a presentation I gave about
this robot over a year ago and that’s
what I realized that this impact extends
past me so to anybody to anybody who
needs to hear it know that it’s not our
inabilities that define us but it’s how
we overcome them and it doesn’t matter
if you think you can’t do something if
you are passionate about a subject and
are willing to be motivated and put in
work anything is possible
even for a girl who’s bad at math but
wants to build robots thank you
[Applause]
Janelle Laros I am from Kailua Kona
Hawaii and I’m a member of the class of
2017 my entire life I have always been
fascinated by science but absolutely
horrible at math but regardless growing
up I always participated in my school
science fair and when I was a sophomore
in high school I was looking to fill
another science credit so I signed up
for robotics now when I first walked in
I immediately felt out of place because
the class consisted of a clique of
senior basketball boys just trying to
get the credit
a group of genius computer kids who had
already spent years coding and a
whopping total of two other girls in the
class who also were incredibly brilliant
but regardless of how out of place I
felt after a week of being in the class
I realized that I love robotics I love
being able to use my hands to create
design and build something which then
comes alive I loved it so much that I
wanted to continue robotics in a more
complex and challenging a program and i
was per that’s oh excuse me i then did a
year-long indepence science research
course to pursue robotics during my
junior year and i then continued it into
my senior year which brings us to where
we are today where i am building a what
multi-jointed robot controlled by
specific bio signals so with this
project I was given the space to learn
how to code build and design in a self
led and non-traditional classroom
setting I was able to reinstall my love
for science which contributed to my
furthering my interests in my other
classes as well as academically
challenging myself in science finally
this project has allowed me to redefine
my self identity as someone who cannot
be stopped by their weaknesses so what
is a multi-jointed robot controlled by
specific bio signals so my goal was to
build a four-legged robot that had a hip
and a knee joint at each leg and that
would be controlled by bio signals bio
signals are
any signal that are in living beings
that can be continually monitored or
measured the three of the three bio
signals I was using was EMG
electromyography which is the
electricity of your muscles ECG
electrocardiogram and EEG
electroencephalography which are your
brainwaves EMG your muscles would
control the initial joint movement of
the robot ECG your heart rate would
control the speed of the robot and EEG
your brainwaves would control the
direction of the robot and as you can
see this is a diagram of the most recent
prototype that I’ve built this is the
third one and this is all of the labels
as you can see the foot and the knee and
the hip joint the Arduino which is the
brain of the robot and several different
battery packs and a breadboard so I
first started this project by learning
more about bio signals I was able to
learn about bio signals through a
company called backyard brains which
creates basically arduino-compatible bio
signal equipment the first ones that I
was studying was EMG and ECG this led me
to design my first prototype which I
made out of Legos what made this
prototype unique is that I created the
tendons basically out of string and
elastic was which was then connected to
excuse me which was then connected to a
fixed point on the robot this is an
animation of the first prototype and now
this is an animation of it trying to
walk creating a walking robot is a
harder than I thought it was going to be
the tendons basically they couldn’t
support the weight of the chassis and
the Legos also broke under tension this
led me to create my second prototype the
second prototype instead of the string
being connected to a fixed point on the
chassis it was connected to a servo and
if you don’t know what a servo is
basically let’s say you have a motor
which is a continuous rotation and if
you have a servo then you put you can
put like specific degrees and that’s
where the servo turns so this had a
servo which was adjusting the tension in
the rope this was a lot more of a more
successful method but the same time
since it was Bill
out of metal it did not break like the
Legos did but it was not able to support
its own bodyweight so this led me to the
summer between my junior and senior year
in the first semester of my senior year
I took time for to research the three
parts that I research is first I took
the time to further my knowledge in
coding specifically the code language of
C++ which is the language that Arduino
uses I also took this time to research
other multi-jointed robots such as Big
Dawg by Boston Dynamics as well as other
3d printable multi-jointed robots that I
could study their joint movement and see
how I could apply that to my project in
this time I also was able to learn how
to use AutoCAD which is an online
computer-aided design program which is
similar to CAD which is another kind of
program that most engineers use I did
this so I could design my project before
going into the third prototype then this
leads us to where we are today this is
the third and final prototype that I’ve
built
instead of having tendons with rubber
bands and string I actually just made
another servo to be the knee here is an
animation of it being able to pick
itself back up I know I know
oh and here this is a video this is a
progression of my robot over the past
two years so this was at the end of my
sophomore year when I first got the idea
for it this was the first design that
you saw earlier this is the first
prototype as you can see there were many
struggles along the way
and this is the most recent prototype
and now this is most recent video we
have a bit walking now you see every
servo movement is a specific degree that
we had to input into the code and you
can see as the code reel oops
it stands itself back up so each of
these are specific like angles and
that’s about it
so as you know I am graduating and my
influence on this project is coming to
an end but next year Oh me next year I
have two rising juniors Jackie pain and
hailey Emmons who will be taking over
this project both young ladies have
advanced knowledge in physics coding and
robotics and I know that they’ll be able
to come they’ll be able to continue the
project in ways that I couldn’t so now
why is this important especially because
as you saw the presentation I did not
finish it I did not integrate the bio
signals into the robot but I know that
with Jackie and Haley continuing it they
will be able to hit the ground running
and implement bio signals into the
project but over the course of the past
two years I was able to study and
research all of the bio signals in
isolation I made three different
prototypes I taught myself a CAD program
and furthered my knowledge in C++ and
Python
I studied biomechanics and movement
which I then applied to my project this
project also allowed me to win my
school’s 2016 engineering ward as as
well as being selected as one of the
statewide winners for the National
Center for Women and information
technologies aspiration and computing
award now if you told 15 year old me who
is intimidated by an elective robotics
class that one day be recognized for
in computing I would not have believed
you but recently I also realized that it
isn’t about the recognition that this
project is about its legacy the other
day a freshman actually came up to me
and she said that the reason that she
wanted to pursue independent science was
because of a presentation I gave about
this robot over a year ago and that’s
what I realized that this impact extends
past me so to anybody to anybody who
needs to hear it know that it’s not our
inabilities that define us but it’s how
we overcome them and it doesn’t matter
if you think you can’t do something if
you are passionate about a subject and
are willing to be motivated and put in
work anything is possible
even for a girl who’s bad at math but
wants to build robots thank you
[Applause]
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