High school robotics team builds power wheelchair for toddler


Tyler Jackson recently approached the robotics club at Farmington High School with a life-changing request: Would they be able to build his 2-year-old son a power wheelchair?
Cillian Jackson was born with a rare genetic microdeletion known as NRXN1, and it can be hard for him to move around. He enjoys being with people, and a therapist told the family he would benefit from having an electric wheelchair. She told them about a group that modifies Power Wheels so they can be used by children with disabilities, but there isn't a chapter near their home in Farmington, Minnesota.
That's when Tyler Jackson decided to see if the Rogue Robotics team could help his son. "It seemed like an engineering challenge like we have to do for robotics [competitions] and it seemed like it was for a great cause," tech education teacher and robotics coach Spencer Elvebak told Today. "The kids got a heck of a lot out of it." Starting with a Power Wheels car, the students were able to customize it for Cillian, making a custom joystick using a 3D printer, and installing a smaller seat with a safety harness.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Cillian's parents say his new wheelchair lets him explore the world, and helped him become more independent. "He just loves pausing and looking at things because he has never had this ability before," his mother, Krissy Jackson, told Today. "You just see his eyes light up. He just sees things from a different lens and it is incredible." Catherine Garcia
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestone
Speed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two years
Speed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on X
Speed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellites
Speed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
-
Test flight of orbital rocket from Europe explodes
Speed Read Isar Aerospace conducted the first test flight of the Spectrum orbital rocket, which crashed after takeoff
-
Apple pledges $500B in US spending over 4 years
Speed Read This is a win for Trump, who has pushed to move manufacturing back to the US
-
Microsoft unveils quantum computing breakthrough
Speed Read Researchers say this advance could lead to faster and more powerful computers