NEPTUN Biography

Have you ever wondered how your hand works? Contrary to what you may think, each finger in the hand doesn’t contain any muscle. The muscles that control your finger motion are located in both the hand and forearm, and are able to work at a distance with the help of tendons which attach them to your bones. The physiology of the hand is important to recognize and understand for various reasons, especially for engineers that are designing products such as robots/prosthetics for people like amputees. Now is your opportunity to channel your inner scientist/engineer and learn how the combination of bones, muscles, joints, and tendons works together to provide individuals with fine motor skills. Through this hands-on activity, designing your own DIY robot hand, you’ll be able to learn about the underlying mechanics behind the hand and visually see what plays a role in allowing normal function in one’s hands!

Have you ever wanted to launch plastic babies with a slingshot/catapult/trebuchet that you’ve created on your own? Well now’s your chance to express your creative freedom and put your engineering skills to the test! Starting with a quick physics lesson on projectile motion and the principles of energy, we’ll prepare you to tackle ANY engineering problem coming your way. With a small team, you’ll then work to design and build your own unique baby launcher. We’ll end the workshop with a fun competition where you and your group will have the opportunity to launch babies to accumulate points and potentially rule all! Hope to see you there :)