03 | 10 | 2012 VOLUME 17 | ISSUE 10
DETERMINATION GETS HIM OUT ON THE ICE LIVING HERE PAGE 28
COMMENT PAGE 10
PLAYING POLITICS WITH ONTARIO'S ENERGY FUTURE
Reaching out for more Painstaking work pays off for pair of EDSS students who built robotic arm COLIN DEWAR As EDSS student Isaac Frank types in a few commands into the school’s laptop a large orange arm with a mechanical pincher begins to move. Below the arm a conveyor belt turns on as three square objects – one made of wood, one small and metal and one large and metal – head towards a group of sensors. Those sensors indicate what type of object is in front of the arm as it picks each one up and individually sorts them into the proper bins. This pick-and-place robot has been Frank’s and classmates Lewis Hahn’s project for the last seven months, part of their Grade 12 automation electrical class in which they’ve built the robotic arm from the ground up. “Over the years we have had students build mechanical pop machines, bowling alley sorting machines, and this year the guys built a robotic arm,” said teacher Ron Fletcher. “It was an old robot we had and the guys basically ripped the brains out of it and started from scratch.” The two students designed and completed the frame and inner workings of the robot while they programmed the arm with hundreds of calculations, allowing it to sense what it was picking up and where it should deposit it. “They had to design, build and decipher all the motors, inputs and outputs for this robot to work,” said Fletcher. “(Frank) has been here more than anyone else working on this project coming in on snow days, during exams and staying late after school to complete the project.” EDSS | 3
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20-year-old agreement causes a stir But Uniroyal-MOE document not the “smoking gun” environmental critic says boosts theory of inaction at chemical site STEVE KANNON
EDSS student Isaac Frank operates a robotic arm he built with classmate Lewis Hahn for their Grade 12 automation electrical class. The students hope to take the robot to the Skills Canada competition in May. [COLIN DEWAR / THE OBSERVER]
An Elmira environmentalist’s “smoking gun” appears to be shooting blanks. Al Marshall, a long-time critic of cleanup efforts at the Uniroyal (now Chemtura) chemical plant, says he recently became aware of a 1991 document he claims lets the company off the hook for contaminating the town’s drinking water. But both the company and the Ministry of the Environment say Chemtura is responsible for remediating the soil and groundwater. As evidence, they point to the millions of dollars spent doing just that over the past two decades – that would not be the case if the company had been given a get-out-of-jailfree card. On Tuesday night, however, Marshall called on Woolwich council to take action against Chemtura and the MOE. “You (council) at the moment have the moral high ground, as I believe that you do not share blame for this betrayal of the public. Some appropriate and significant action, including expressing your condemnation of the reprehensible behaviour of CHEMTURA | 7
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