T.it all started with a meeting with an operator of Doctors without borders, who told how in Haiti, after the 2010 earthquake, a batch of drugs was thrown away due to bad storage. The boys of the San Carlo College of Milanvery impressed, they decided to get busy and with their FrostBox project they managed to win the national prize Beyond robotics in the national competition FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge Italy, which in Italy is organized by the Civic Museum Foundation of Rovereto.
Thanks to this result, they were invited to compete in the world final – there were 20 teams representing 110 nations – the FIRST® Global Innovation Award (born in 1998 from the collaboration between LEGO® and the American FIRST® association to guide children towards Stems) which just took place in Missouri.
Two students of the Collegio San Carlo with their FrostBox that they brought from Milan to Missouri.
From Collegio San Carlo, students Beyond robotics
They returned from America without a win but very motivated to go on. “We were among the best 20 in the world, it was a great satisfaction,” says Michela Maddalena, the physics professor coach of the SustainaBot team who created FrostBox. «This year the theme of the competition was logistics, and after meeting an operator from Doctors Without Borders, the young people understood how crucial it is that the transport of drugs is carried out in a safe and controlled way. They did a research, and found that 20 percent of transported heat-sensitive drugs are damaged by a change in temperature. So they saw what was on the market and decided to create something that was better ».
From study to project, seamlessly. After months of work, the result is FrostBox, which combines the characteristics of different products: it is thermally insulated, shockproof, small, light and portable, connected to the satellite, therefore not only traceable but able to send data on the temperature of drugs. It is also self-temperature-adjustable, created with recycled or recyclable materials ».
The team that won Oltre la robotica is made up of 10 students, 5 boys and 5 girls, 1st and 2nd: «They looked for the materials and built the prototype. Now we would like to go on, trying to understand if we can patent the idea and then move on to production », continues the professor. «Our young people are very motivated, they want to be useful to Doctors Without Borders with a product that works in emergency situations, such as wars and natural disasters. In the future, the container could also be used for organ transport ».
One started to develop FrostBox fundraising open to all.
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