STEM-In-Action Spring Scoop: Steampunk Hedgehogs

Welcome back to the STEM-In-Action Spring Scoop! If you're just tuning in, the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) awards STEM-In-Action Grants of up to $5,000 to eCYBERMISSION teams that wish to further develop and implement their projects in their communities. Typically, only five teams receive a STEM-In-Action grant, but this year ten teams took home the award. Today, we're catching up with the Steampunk Hedgehogs!

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Hello from the Steampunk Hedgehogs and happy 2022! As a reminder for those who are just tuning in, we are a group of 4 homeschoolers from all around Massachusetts. Our mission is to find a way to keep kids with Down Syndrome active while having fun. To do this, we have created the Blitz Buttons, a set of large, freestanding, colorful buttons that can be placed around a room or outdoor space to play a game of memory and skill similar to Simon.

Since we last checked in with our several readers, we’ve been working hard on testing and improving the Blitz Buttons and doing a presentation on STEM at the Mass Down Syndrome Congress (MDSC).

Over the past few months, we’ve developed solutions to what we believe are the two main areas for improvement with the Blitz Buttons: the volume of our speakers, and the visibility of our lights. We’ve been experimenting with several possible alternative speakers for the Blitz Buttons, since our previous speakers were fragile, quiet, and sounded tinny. After testing 5 different options, we found an alternative that would suit our needs. By combining a significantly larger speaker with a tiny, dedicated amplifier, we’ve been able to make the sounds, which are an integral part of the game, audible at large distances. To make the Blitz Buttons’ lights more noticeable, we experimented with using smaller resistors on them. Unfortunately, we don’t believe that this can make our LEDs significantly brighter while still being safe. Instead, we will use clear buttons with colored LEDs to make them more noticeable.

To accommodate these changes, we have redesigned the Blitz Buttons’ casing in Onshape, a fully parametric CAD software. It lets us make and modify complicated designs very easily compared to TinkerCAD, which we had been using. Over the next couple months, we will 3D print and assemble sets of Blitz Buttons and give them to the MDSC and the Boston Children's Hospital Down Syndrome Clinic.

We also recently gave a presentation on STEM for the MDSC. We created and shared a fun video explaining STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), showed one of our 3D printers and explained how it works, and demonstrated the Blitz Buttons. We did the presentation virtually, and it was a terrific time for the participants and for our team. We’re looking forward to a time when we can meet with MDSC members in person to deliver the Blitz Buttons and play with them together! 

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The way that the Steampunk Hedgehogs are continuing to improve their prototype is an awesome example of the engineering design process in action! Blitz Buttons serve such an important purpose, we have no doubt it will improve the lives of kids with Down Syndrome across their community and beyond.

Faith Benner
AEOP Senior Communications and Marketing Specialist