There is no age limit to inventiveness , and competitor like theIntel International Science and Engineering fairreally facilitate to forge home this message .
Each twelvemonth , one thousand thousand of high schoolers across the globe are advance to explore their passion for science and drive to make the earth a better space . Of these driven applier , a bunch of the good learning ability are selected to compete for an impressive $ 4 million in awards and scholarships . And this year , unsurprisingly , the finalists did n’t disappoint . Although there were far too many to choose from , here are a few of our favorite trailblazer who we thought deserved showcasing .
Alex Wulff , 15 , Skaneateles High School , NY : Wearable propinquity warn gimmick for the blind
For some , disordered bone think of befriending Ben and Jerry and carving a perfect butt - print in the couch shock , but Alex decided to make the most of his “ respite ” days and lead off experimenting with programming and robotics . Because why watchFriendswhen you’re able to establish a robot in your kitchen ?
After playing around with space detector so that his inventions could basically “ see , ” Alex tellsIFLSciencethat he thought to himself , “ Hey , if I can get inanimate piles of conducting wire and parts to see , why ca n’t I use the same technology to help oneself visually spoil hoi polloi do the same ? ” And so his projection was birth .
After spending many month laboriously design , tweaking and better his invention , Alex eventually came up with a category of low - cost wearable twist that give blind user the ability to sense object in their surroundings . Using a combination of supersonic and infrared sensors , the devices detect the proximity of objects and , if one fall within a sure reach , they begin tickle in a pattern that tells the user where it is . What ’s more , multiple equipment can be worn all over the body , like a watch or a pendant , “ giving [ drug user ] a really good sense of what their surroundings ‘ feel ’ like , ” says Alex .
“ My devices surround them in a cocoon of information . This enable them to pilot indoor surround with ease , and creates a great sense of independency for these user . ”
Impressively , he wrote all of the programs himself , and used his shoal ’s 3D printer to make some of the cases , which he also design and modeled on his own .
Nilay Mehta , 16 , Irvine , California : broken - toll , 3D printed prosthetic manus that serve through voice and muscle control
While some moderately telling gamy - terminal prosthetic hired hand have come on the market , those who do n’t have the money to fork out for these pricey devices are forced to make do with cheaper options , which often have highly limited functionality . Some , for exemplar , are only capable of opening and exit the script . With the ultimate destination of bridge this significant gap , 16 - year - old Nilay endeavour to create a prosthetic hand that ’s composed of chintzy parting but still capable of impart the user with a becoming amount of mastery .
To do this , Nilay used a combination of voice control and electromyography , a means of quantify electrical activity produced by muscle stimulation . This enables the drug user to both vary the type of grip through phonation control condition and operate the script using skeletal muscle activation , Nilay tellsIFLScience .
Ava Lakmazaheri , 17 , McLean , Virginia : Brainwave - controlled humanoid robot
After check a TV showcasing how a brain - computer interface allow a tetraplegic cleaning woman to operate a robotic arm using her thoughts , passionate robotics engineer Ava was inspired to get up with a refreshing way to amend the lineament of life for people with wicked physical impairment . Ultimately , Ava tellsIFLSciencethat she would like to build a commercially practicable exoskeleton that would allow those with physical handicap not only to take the air but to keep in line objects using their mind .
“ Obviously a fate of research and growing work has to be done before such a visual sense can be realized ; I have a feeling this work will traverse my full professional vocation , ” she say .
For now , Ava has been working on a project which involves using brainwaves to straightaway hold in a image mechanical man automaton that she design and constructed herself .
“ I use a facial expression technique ( jaw clenching ) to pass with the automaton through an EEG headset , ” she explicate . The signals gathered are then processed and translate into a solidification of instructions that the robot can practice to perform an military action . The robot can also be programmed to execute certain tasks so that user are n’t expect to be forever mentally pursue , which is useful when an action needs to be repeatedly performed .
Simone Braunstein , 17 , New York : Novel controller for soft robots
Soft robotics is a chop-chop emerging field , and these conciliatory devices are already crop up with a potpourri of applications , such as injury rehabilitation and search - and - rescue delegation . Although they outperform traditional operose robots at sure tasks , engineers have encountered a thwarting problem : their action is often imprecise , an topic that is the final result of overly - simplistic manual control .
To get around this unpredictable motion trouble , Simone designed a 3 - legged soft automatonlike gripper and mix it with a verifiable , ego - right control system , which she tellsIFLSciencehas never been done before .
Her design is so impressive that she has deservedly won second place in her section , and she has also invite first swag for her bill presentment at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium national final examination in Baltimore .
Jesseca Kusher , 18 , Spartanburg , South Carolina:“Sunscreen ” for cap
After take an environmental skill family , Jesseca start to ponder about ways to take good forethought of the environment in which we inhabit . In particular , Jesseca tellsIFLSciencethat she wanted to reduce the amount of ozone entering the abject bed of our atmosphere , the troposphere , which can move as a greenhouse gas and is thus largely consider a pollutant .
Since itsformationrequires warmth and sun , Jesseca wanted to modernise a way to reduce the amount of heat absorbed and retained by the urban environment . To do this , she design a new coating , composed of the minerals mica , gypsum and black lead , which increases reflectance of roof shingles and thus lose weight heat immersion .
Alongside having the potential difference to boil down smogginess production , this nerveless “ sunscreen ” could also have implications for sufferers of respiratory disease like asthma , which can beworsenedby ozone .
Makenzie and Madison Plyman , 17 , Trussville , Alabama:3D printed arsenic filter
Studies haveestimatedthat closely to 140 million people in more than 70 country worldwide are likely affected by arsenic toxic condition from boozing water supply . Although methods live to remove it from water supply sources , these can be up to a whopping $ 10,000 . With this in psyche , these shining twins created two filter systems for its removal from polluted drinking urine , one with a beading design and one with a pill design .
Their 3-D printed filter are capable of filtering water contaminated with arsenic at level importantly higher than the minimum amount considered to be dangerous by the Environmental Protection Agency ( 10 parts per billion ) . Furthermore , they both cost around $ 50 , making them practicable pick for developing countries . The similitude toldIFLSciencethat the filters could also be applied to remove other chemicals like fluoride , so they desire to test out this possibility in the future .
Mihir Garimella , 15 , Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania : FlyBot , an self-governing pinch reception golem
barrack by how fruit tent flap ward off flyswat , Mihir wanted to create a fly robot that could dodge hazards like collapsing cap in emergency response state of affairs . Having worked with robots for a few year , Mihir eventually came up with a small bot that could help first responders in sure emergencies . He create it by combining sleazy sensing and processing hardware with biologically - inspired algorithmic program that he grow after canvass how sure organism , such as birds and flies , perceive their environments .
The destruction result was a completely self-governing robot which , for example , could be used by firefighters to find people pin down inside burn buildings . What ’s even more telling is that it costs between $ 100 and $ 200 , while some manually - manoeuvre laggard can cost thousands .
Mihir ’s task won him two awards at the Google Science Fair , and he ’s now continuing his work by undertake to tackle problems bear on to applying flying robots to exigency response , he tellsIFLScience .
