Cascade Bruin Robotics takes on the challenge of keeping zoo keepers safe!
by Neil Palachuk, coach and lead mentor
The Cascade Bruin Robotics Team of the Everett School District has accepted a challenge proposed by zoo keepers at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to help design and build not a better mouse trap but a better bear feeder!
The zoo keepers at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo work hard at feeding the animals every day—no question about that. However, the keepers caring for the bears have to put a little more muscle into it. In order to stay safe, the keepers are required to feed the bears from outside the enclosure. This means throwing the food into the enclosure from 20-30 feet away. This process can definitely become tiresome very quickly.Thus, the zoo keepers decided to challenge the Cascade Bruin Robotics Team to develop a new way to feed the bears. At the start of the project, the students came up with 2 designs. They then submitted the designs to the Zoo keeper, who in turn selected the design that uses an extendable PVC slide to feed the bears. Way to go, Bruins!
