PowerPivot: Local Robotics Team Delivers Impressive Tech

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Team 2471, a robotics team made up of students from Camas, Hockinson, and Washougal school districts in Washington state used their design, machining, programming, and business skills to create a device for assisting people with injuries or other physical disabilities. During the 2021 FIRST Robotics Competition Season, the team was challenged to create an innovative design to facilitate aspects of health and fitness. As their answer to this challenge, Team 2471 created the Power Pivot™ to help persons with limited mobility and their caregivers.

The Power Pivot™ is a portable motorized disk that can assist caregivers transferring persons with limited mobility between wheelchairs, seats, and beds. Unlike existing transfer disks, the Power Pivot™ provides rotation to move the patient without having to twist or apply force. About 32,000 deaths are caused annually due to older adults falling. The Power Pivot aims to prevent these accidents.


This is a great opportunity for students to gain all sorts of unique experience designing, building, and marketing a product before they’re even out of high school. The high school team is currently assembling Power Pivots™ and making them available for those who can benefit from its capabilities. Power Pivots are built for each individual upon request. They are designed to be affordable with any profit directed to support STEM education in the community.

According to Zach Ager, Team 2471 VP, “The Power Pivot project has been an amazing opportunity for team members to come forward to learn and use their skills while creating something that can really help a lot of people.”

Taryn Cavill, Team 2471 member, added, “The Power Pivot project has really allowed me to look behind the scenes and learn more about the production, business, and outreach side of making a product (whether that be a robot or Power Pivot), whereas before I only focused on the building and designing.”

FRC Team 2471 competes in annual FIRST Robotics Competitions where they use design, machining, programming, and business skills to build robots to compete in a series of robot challenges that change from year to year. Team Members have opportunities to learn new skills and work together as a team while they are encouraged to seek innovative solutions to solve real-world problems, preparing them for any professional STEM or business fields. Students show dedication to the FIRST Robotics principles of safety in their work, innovation in creation, excellence in design, and gracious professionalism throughout their community.

FIRST® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for grades PreK-12 that can be facilitated in both school or other structured programs. An international non-profit organization founded by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989, FIRST has a proven impact on STEM learning, interest, and skill-building well beyond high school. Boosted by a global support system of mentors, coaches, volunteers, alumni, and sponsors that include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, teams operate under a signature set of FIRST Core Values to conduct research, fundraise, design, and build robots, then compete and celebrate at local, regional, and international events. Students are eligible for more than $80 million in college scholarships through FIRST. Learn more at firstinspires.org/

You can learn more about the PowerPivot at powerpivotdisk.com/ or get more information about Team 2471 and their work at team2471.org/

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