Greendale Team Advancing To International Invention Competition

GREENDALE, WI— A local youth robotics team is advancing to the final round of an international competition for its invention that helps wheelchair users navigate snow and ice, according to a news release from the team.

The team’s invention is meant for wheelchairs, especially in the winter. It is a set of wheel covers that enhance traction and can be clipped on or off in moments, according to the team’s finalist description. The wheel covers do not require any tools to install and are easily removed or attached by the wheelchair user, the description said.

Greendale Community Robotics Team ALIEN will go against 19 other teams from the United States, India and Canada in the FIRST Innovations Challenge. FIRST is an organization founded to inspire young people with science and technology, according to the news release.

"We knew that we felt pretty isolated staying inside during COVID, and we realized that many people who use wheelchairs experience this kind of isolation every winter,” ALIEN team member Ava Scheuer said about the invention.

“So we tried to think about ways we can help make it easier for people who rely on wheelchairs to get out in winter,” Scheuer said.

The enhanced traction from the covers can help wheelchair users maintain traction and mobility in slippery conditions, without having to pay more for all new wheels, according to the team’s finalist description.

Through the FIRST Innovation Challenge, Greendale’s Team ALIEN has also gotten the chance to meet engineers at Disney and participate in workshops alongside them, according to the news release.

The competition will have a “Community Choice,” where community members can vote for their favorite invention in the challenge, a spokesperson for Team ALIEN said. Vote for the best invention in the challenge before June 28.

There will also be an awards show to announce this season’s winners. The awards show will be aired live on FIRSTtv on Twitch at 1:30 p.m. on June 30.

Top prizes at the awards ceremony include ongoing mentorships with industry experts. All finalists will also receive Star Wars: Force For Change commemorative items exclusively made for challenge participants, the news release said.

Team ALIEN will be competing against inventions such as a product meant to improve blood circulation for wheelchair users, a mobility device for those that are visually impaired and a boxing bag meant to fight the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, according to the FIRST finalist description list.

The theme for this season’s FIRST Innovation Challenge was sports and fitness. Teams were each tasked with finding a problem in their community and then inventing something to solve that problem, the news release said. Team ALIEN identified the issue of wheelchairs having low traction in wintertime, so they invented their clip-on traction covers.

Disney and Lucasfilm have sponsored the FIRST Innovation Challenge this season through its Star Wars: Force For Change program, according to the news release. The program will custom create Star Wars merch for the group of finalists, the news release said.

Team ALIEN was originally founded as a program at Greendale High School, but has since changed to be a community team, according to a spokesperson from Team ALIEN. The team supports individuals in grade levels 7-12 to explore the STEM world, according to the news release.

The FIRST organization was founded in 1989 and has since become a regular host of programs such as robotics for grade levels 7-12 and Lego competitions for those in younger grades, according to the news release.