A billion-dollar Mustang idea
Students design prototype to detect holding in football
By John Mulvey, Staff writer
April 5, 2023
At Norwood High, something very special is being designed, built, and tested that may change the face of America's most popular sport. The minds at NHS Robotics and Computer-Assisted Design may have cracked the code of a common and controversial issue in American football
It's no secret that American football is one of the most influential sports in the United States and holds a spot as one of the most expensive sports in the world. In every town in the country, you will find swarms of people sporting team colors and logos and the average NFL athletes making millions of dollars.
“In the game of football, officials do the best they can but they don’t always get it right and we think that technology can help them get the right call,” said NHS Robotics teacher Dr. Michael Crowley.
And it is through this technology that the NHS CAD and Robotics classes have begun to devise a physical prototype.
Junior Raf Dasilva initially designed a prototype that involved a stationary baseplate and a helmet-mounted microprocessor connected to LEDs.
"Mr. Crowley came to me about the idea and just told me to hop into a program that we have on the computers and just design something," said Dasilva.
"Knowing how hard the plastic is on the shoulder pads, I made sure to drill holes big enough for something to either screw in or be sewn in and that's what the holes on the side are. After that, I made a sliding mechanism which allows...when a penalty is committed, to just slide out," Dasilva continued.
The wiring to make both the LED lights and the actual microprocessor function was designed by Senior Joey McHugh
“The main base mounts to the jersey and remains stationary and the smaller part also mounts but can be pulled away from the base. The microprocessor in the helmet will set off the LED lights and alert the officials on the sidelines,” said Dr. Crowley.
But naturally, such a complicated idea goes through several revisions and versions before it is finally ready.
“We have two different prototypes as of now and both are based on the same magnetic model. And we hope that we can keep that same consistency with future versions,” said Lead Student Designer junior Mathieu Walsh who designed the second and third versions of the prototype.
But beyond the work of the Robotics class, credit must also be given to the students of the Computer-assisted Design class, taught by Mr. Brenden Crowley.
“My students, in conjunction with the Robotics students, have designed the prototypes and printed them out. Basically, the CAD students design the actual device and the Robotics students make it work physically,” Crowley said.
Now with the confirmed three prototypes, one of the most important things to consider is what is the next step? And can this potentially game-changing idea be properly presented and implemented?
“We view this solution as a form of intellectual property and we would like to go with it to an event hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called Inventeam. They encourage young inventors to bring forth ideas that can be patented,” said Dr. Crowley.
This robotic solution is not only eligible for this competition but according to Dr. Crowley NHS has had success at this competition before.
“We have won this competition once before in 2016 and I am really confident that if we make this device small enough and durable enough then we have a billion-dollar idea on our hands here,” he said.