Yesterday, The Grow Dubois County Board of Directors presented Jasper High School Seniors, Noah Mehringer and Nick Pieper with a $4,000 grant. Each at just 18 years of age, the two boys have secured a provisional patent for an innovation for robotic surgery.
After attending a conference at Memorial Hospital, the boys bounced ideas back and fourth about how to make robotic surgery better.
Meringher says the engineering and HOSA teachers were amazing help in their journey towards this business venture and patent.
The two hope that this patent can be applied to robotics surgurey everywhere, saying it is a hugely advancing field that this patent can help it grow, hoping to make surgury more comfortable and user friendly for doctors.
Pieper says what they have achieved and what led up to it has brought many “wow” moments at how much they each have accomplished.
The two used 3D printers, standard tools, robotics tools, and microprocessors when building prototypes for the patent. They’ve gained experiences through Project Lead The Way classes.
In building this patent, the two boys also started a company, Mehringer-Pieper Innovations, which Meringher says was a weird process considering neither have taken business classes prior to this venture, so extra research had to be done.
While no major details about the patent have been released just yet, more information is said to be coming in the next few weeks.
The boys plan on keeping this business venture and innovation going after high school as Noah plans to head to Purdue University and Nick plans to head to Vanderbilt University. Both of the boys will be studying Biomedical Engineering.
