Pupils from 'I. L. Caragiale' National High School in Ploiesti who make up the Eastern Foxes team, recently qualified for the 2025 FIRST® Championship Houston, have created orthoses for animals with motor disorders because, they say, even animals need help.

A group of 15 pupils from rural areas with a passion for what they call 'the field of the future' are now the active core of the Eastern Foxes team, that qualified for the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) of the 2025 FIRST® Championship Houston.

'At the moment, we are 15 active members in the team, and this year all our members come from rural areas. Basically we are a team gathered from several corners of this county and we all gathered at 'I. L. Caragiale' National High School to develop and achieve performance in STEM. It was by chance that we happened to be from different corners this year, but ambition proved that it can be done. The team was formed five years ago, in 2020, out of the desire of six kids who wanted to practically develop the STEM field and wanted to make an impact in the community and grow. And then, as time went on, more people joined and we reached the maximum number of people that the competition (FIRST Tech Challenge) allows, namely 15 people. STEM refers to the development of science, technology, engineering and math. Basically everything that encompasses this branch of exact sciences, the field of the future, as we call it,' Raluca Buzatu, a member of the robotics team, explained for AGERPRES.

The competition has two objectives, one of which is community involvement. That's how the team's 'Fox Aid' campaign was born, brainstorming to make the world a more accessible place for everyone.

'The competition has two goals. First, we have to make a robot each year based on the challenge we received, and the FIRST Tech Challenge is trying to somehow get us to use our skills and do something that would actually be useful in real life, and the other goal, besides the technical one, is to somehow impact the community, to contribute to the world we live in and basically, it stimulates us to give back what we know. I mean, we organize events such as workshops or events where we bring in specialists from different fields to help the youth connect,' said Iuliana Georgescu, another member of the team.

Within the component aiming at the impact on society, the team has developed two major projects, namely Paws Ability, which consists of the development of an orthosis for animals that lack motor function, and Vision Beyond Borders, which aims to develop a device to help disabled people.

'The device for the blind was designed and built by our colleagues in such a way that a small device is attached to a blind human, measuring through different sensors how far away objects are and telling him, in an earpiece, the size and distance and the object in front of him, so that it can help him move around with ease,' says Raluca.

In order to develop the system, the pupils contacted the Ploiesti Blind Association and specialists who will advise them on how to optimize the device so that it will provide a safe and comfortable experience for users.

The Paws Ability project was based on research, with the help of doctors from a veterinary practice, and the students designed and 3D-printed several of these orthoses which they are now perfecting. The mechanism can be modified according to the height and diameter of the animal's leg.

'We have developed the first prototype together with a veterinary practice, and we are now trying to improve this prototype as much as possible, so that we can implement it in the community. There are quite a lot of these types of orthoses that have been developed, only we have come up with a slightly different system. We want to be able to develop them as much as possible, because, after all, even animals need help. What's more, we want to offer them practically for free, we want to make them because we want to help. We use 3D-printed objects or objects that we make ourselves, which we use anyway in the realization of the robot or we can purchase and in addition we try to offer them for free to help, because we know that there are many problems like this,' explained Iuliana.

If all goes according to plan, the two projects could be completed in the next few months, with the children's wish being that their work will have a real impact in the community.

'We want these two projects to be 100% completed by early summer this year. However, depending on the advice we receive from the specialists and the optimizations that need to be made, the time may be shorter or longer. We want them to be well implemented and even to have an impact in the community, not just to do them for a limited time,' Raluca points out.

During this period, the 15 members of the Eastern Foxes are preparing intensively for the World Cup clash, and brainstorming sessions have resumed.

'What helped us qualify was the robot's performance in terms of speed. We have the lightest robot, it is 10.5 kilograms, and a robot in the FTC competition averages between 12 and 13 kilograms. We were able to optimize it, to bring it up to this mass, so that it is the fastest. Also, its elevator is the fastest, extending in 0.6 seconds. It is recognized globally that our elevator extends the fastest, not only in Romania, and this has meant many hours of work at the headquarters (...) We are confident in our abilities, we know that there is always room for improvement, that's why we will develop and optimize the robot as much as possible. As for the non-technical side, we will continue to be actively involved in the community, organize events, develop new skills, help as many children as possible to get closer to robotics. And we believe that we are prepared for what our experience in America means and we will properly represent Romania,' said Raluca.

The team also won the Control Award at the national stage of the competition, for the best autonomy and robot programming.

Iuliana emphasized the important role of the coordinating teachers, including Lica Daniela, director of the Prahova County Center of Excellence, also known as the 'trainer of geniuses'.

'It is very important to have support and guidance, advice, because our mentors, Mrs. Lica Daniela Lica, who is also the director of the Prahova County Center of Excellence, and Mrs. Iulia Suditu, who is an English teacher and journalist and project coordinator in our college, help us a lot. Mrs. Lica Daniela Daniela helps us on the more technical side, on the programming side and this is very important for us, because she is a person who has a lot of experience, who shares her knowledge with us, and Mrs. Suditu on the marketing side, she helps us a lot with promotion,' explained Iuliana Georgescu.

As for the financial side, the team benefits from sponsorships from people who want to support the field of science, the cost of the robot that earned the 15 pupils the qualification to Huston, exceeding 10.000 EUR, as some parts were imported from America.

For the future, the girls want to stay in Romania and continue their studies in the field.

'Personally, I'm thinking of going into automation and robotics because I discovered this field and fell in love with it. In principle, I want to stay in Romania, even though most people tend to leave because yes, it's true, we don't necessarily have the greatest technology. I think that maybe if so far we, as a team, have managed to make an impact and do something, maybe I will be able to do that in college and afterwards, and to help others but also better myself,' says Iuliana.

Raluca hasn't decided which specialization she will pursue, but she will remain in the STEM field because she is passionate about everything involving mathematics, physics and computer science. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Anamaria Constantin; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)