'That's freedom': Boyne City robotics team to modify toy truck for Go Baby Go! program

BOYNE CITY — This Saturday, the Boyne City High School robotics team will be helping modify a ride-on vehicle for a 2-year-old boy in Boyne Falls.

As a part of the national “Go Baby Go!” program, the event will allow students to help promote mobility by altering a battery-powered ride-on toy, customized to meet the needs of the rider.

The Go Baby Go! program is a national, community-based program where toy cars are modified for children under the age of 4 who experience limited mobility due to medical conditions ranging from cerebral palsy to Down syndrome.

The build is set to take place from 9 a.m. to noon May 6 at Boyne City High School.

The Boyne City Blaze team will be helping modify a toy truck to address the mobility needs of 2-year-old Bennett Day. The team will be accompanied by three engineers from Bear River Electric, who are also sponsoring the event.

The team will start by having an introduction to the family and the child before determining the best way to modify the car.

Nicole Lindwall, Early On Coordinator for the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District, said after the introductions, the team, engineers and occupational and physical therapists from the ISD will brainstorm and create a plan of action for how to go about modifying the truck.

Usually, students have issues pressing the pedals with their feet, Lindwall said, so the car’s power would be rewired and connected to a button by the steering wheel or the child’s head, for example. However, for Day’s truck, the current plan is to try to put a joystick on the vehicle because Day has better fine motor skills, she said.

“There’s no real manual for how you’re going to do the build,” she said. “Each car is modified to support the very individual and unique needs of each child.”

Lindwall said participating in a project like this is important because it gives the child the opportunity of freedom.

“When you think of any 2-year-old, what first comes to mind: They are laughing and running away from you — that's freedom for that child,” Lindwall said. "For our small children with physical disabilities, they're unable to move themselves without adult support. So, what a Go Baby Go! car does, it gives them the freedom to move themselves.

“It gives them the freedom to drive away from their parents in the same way that a small child would run away from their parents giggling. It gives them the freedom to approach another child and have a social interaction. I think we can't really underestimate the importance of that for a small child.”

Lindwall said she was happy the ISD can work with the local schools and collaborate with the students, because typically it’s occupational and physical therapists spearheading the process.

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Karen Jarema, Boyne City High School principal and robotics team lead mentor, said the team is excited for the modification event this weekend.

“This particular project will allow the team to put their project management, their design, and their hands-on skills to a project that allows for connection to a youth and family member and to walk away feeling like they have really accomplished something that is assisting and helping an individual,” Jarema said. “We're very excited.”

She said the team was supposed to help with a similar project in 2020, but it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jarema said the team president told the team the project is “a very unique opportunity that not all teams get to have.”

— Contact education reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boyne City robotics team to modify toy truck for 'Go Baby Go!' program