Biobots

Students from Sittingbourne Community College are learning what it takes to become an Olympic athlete.

The project was started in 2009 and focussed on motivating students to develop an interest in science. Students looked at the biology and physics behind athletic training. They learned about how the human body functions when carrying out different movements, andabout sports injury and how prosthetics are designed. With the aid of a Royal Society Partnership Grant, the students worked with engineers to design and developed their own moving limbs using pneumatics and innovative muscle wire. They learned how muscles and nerves work together to create movement of arms and legs.

"The project has taught the students how the human body moves, and how nutrition, respiration, nerves and muscles all work together to create an Olympic athlete. They have also learned about the state of the art technology used by athletes participating in the Paralympic Games and how to create working models of limbs for sports," says Mr Julie Daynes, Science Teacher, Sittingbourne Community College.

Visitors to the exhibit will be challenged to construct a leg out of K’NEX that can kick a ball, use their skill to balance on a wobble board, test their lung capacity, organise food into the main groups and design a balanced meal, test the pneumatic and memory wire models and play ‘who wants to be a millionaire’.

Exhibited by Sittingbourne Community College.

See all exhibits from 2010