Ladyville Technical High to Represent Belize at International Robotics Competition with Assistive Device Innovation

The robotics team from Ladyville Technical High School is representing Belize next month at the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow international robotics competition in Guatemala. The competition challenges students to identify a problem and use Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), to develop a solution to that problem. After besting nine other Belizean schools in the local competition and two schools in the regional phase, the team is headed to the finals with their device called the AODI (Assistive Oral Device Interface). Ardeth Rudon, Vice Principal at Ladyville Technical High, says that the students developed AODI to assist patients who lost their ability to speak after suffering a stroke.

Ardeth Rudon, Vice Principal, Ladyville Technical High School: “Our submission was an Audi. It stands for Assisted, Oral Device Interface. So this is a robotic glove where when you wear it it’s programmed to communicate information to an LCD screen where the information can be relayed whatever it is you want to communicate to whoever needs to provide assistance for you. So this particular device was specifically designed for people who had suffered a stroke and one of the main challenges that stroke survivors face is that ability to speak and communicate efficiently and a lot of times people who have stroke end up with a second stroke within that 72 hours of having that first one and because they cannot speak or become mute during that period they can’t communicate. Now if you have this particular device and you’re wearing this glove this information can be communicated by simply moving your fingers, flexing your fingers and then that information if I am having a headache, I am having another stroke that can be communicated quickly and so that second stroke could be prevented.”

Rudon also said that, apart from participating in the finals, the team is also participating in the community competition, which they can win by generating the most buzz online about their proposal. Rudon is calling on all Belizeans to support the team, so they can bring home a back-to-back victory for Belize at this year’s competition.

Ardeth Rudon, Vice Principal, Ladyville Technical High School: “The main proposal, there is the main competition Solve For Tomorrow but there’s also a side competition that Samsung International is hosting which is the community competition. So the community competition focuses on publicity, worldwide publicity. So sharing the information, sharing the video that the community members loved the most and voting for it by sharing it and liking it could give Belize an opportunity and Ladyville Technical High School an opportunity to win this additional competition that is being hosted as a side competition. So it’s to bring worldwide publicity to the proposal, to the Audi device in this case for Ladyville Technical High School. So we are urging and asking the entire country of Belize and all of the schools whether you have chat groups locally or internationally to share the information, to share the video that is being proposed for our international competition to share the video, like the video so that we could win the community competition for the Solve For Tomorrow Samsung Glass Wing International Competition.”

The school’s robotics team was assembled by Dr. Abraham Flowers, a former teacher at Ladyville Tech. We note that Flowers was also the one who established the robotics club at Pallotti High School and was instrumental in that team securing first place in the competition last year.