In the basement of Montana’s Helena Regional Airport (HLN), a high school robotics team is developing the airport’s latest creation inspired by its Lift Cell.
In October 2022, Administrator Pekoske released the Innovation Doctrine, outlining a new, guided process for employees to identify workplace problems and create innovative solutions. From that doctrine, the Lift Cell program was created to empower employees to identify and solve tactical-level pain points in the field.
This latest collaboration isn’t the first time the small airport has paired up with its neighboring robotics team to produce innovative ideas. Before HLN had a Lift Cell, the two groups partnered to solve some of HLN’s front-line problems.
“For the past 11 years, I have been the coach and mentor for a local high school robotics team, Fusion 4133,” said Mike Ellis, HLN Transportation Security Manager and Lift Innovation Officer. “The team has helped HLN with four projects, three of which they have completed, and the fourth one they're still working on.”
HLN’s unused basement is the perfect place to host the robotics’ lab and equipment. The students get a work area close to their mentor and coach, and in return, they help solve the airport’s most frustrating issues.
“When applying to be a Lift Cell airport, we considered how cool it would be to involve the robotics team already located at HLN,” Ellis said. “They would be a wealth of innovation, and we could continue to partner with them to find solutions to our problems.”
Across the country TSA has 28 Lift Cells that cover 200 airports and one headquarter program office. Four months ago, HLN became one of those airports, and in a short amount of time, Ellis has helped guide the robotics team in collaboration with HLN to tackle problems facing the workforce and create amazing results.
This teamwork has resulted in HLN’s most successful Lift Cell project.
“About three months ago, I was watching one of my officers perform a colorimetric test in the checkpoint,” Ellis explained. “When they opened the drawer where we keep all the testing bottles and test strips, the Officer had a hard time finding the right materials because they were lying in the drawer with other items.
“We needed to do something to get these items organized. At first, we used boxes and plastic holders, but nothing worked. That’s when I thought about getting the robotics team to help. The next day, I asked several of the robotics team members to come to the checkpoint and look at our problem.”
Ellis and his officers described the issue and their possible solutions to the robotics team.
“The next day the team had a CAD (computer-aided design) drawing of a caddy on the computer,” Ellis said. “The caddy is a square box that fits each bottle and strip holder for the colorimetric test. They 3D printed the first version, and it was a perfect fit for the materials. I sent pictures of the caddy to all the TSMs in Montana, and they all wanted one, so we supplied all the Montana checkpoints with their own.”
Now, HLN is in the process of patenting this first-of-its-kind organizational caddy for front-line officers’ colorimetric testing kits. They also have a growing list of airports that want to secure caddies for their own front-line employees.
“At the beginning of the project, I contacted Deputy Federal Security Director Kurt Jordan in Houston and asked him if I could send him a prototype to share with his Officers, so they could give feedback,” Ellis explained. “The Officers loved them. Since HLN is an innovation and Lift Cell airport, the word got out. We just received a request for caddies from Oakland, California, and several other airports.”
Each caddy costs about $2.50 to create and is an easy way for airports to solve a daily problem officers face. The 3D printer file needed to create the caddy is easily sharable with other airports.
“With Lift, we have created a network of innovators and collaborators that are discovering common problems across the enterprise and are working on solutions together,” said Vanessa Couch, TSA Innovation Program Manager.
Lift Cells provide TSA components with the means to solve problems while building on TSA’s culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
“We have this great way of communicating with the Lift Cells through the website and email chain,” Ellis said. “I've been on several email chains where someone will present a problem to all 28 Lift Cells, and everybody provides feedback. Most times, an airport might have already identified the same exact problem and have a solution. And that's what is so great about this initiative.”
By Kimberlyn Pepe, TSA’s Strategic Communications & Public Affairs