tech
This 16-year-old built an autonomous AI-powered robot turtle that finds microplastics in water
Evan Budz, 16, won a $50,000 scholarship at the International Science and Engineering Fair in May for his microplastic-seeking robot turtle.
TL;DR
- Evan Budz, 16, created an autonomous robot turtle designed to detect microplastics in water bodies.
- The robot uses an underwater 3D holographic camera combined with AI models trained to identify microplastics.
- Budz was inspired by the natural swimming motion of turtles and chose them as a model for efficiency and size to accommodate scientific payloads.
- He developed algorithms for autonomous swimming, depth regulation, and microplastic detection, achieving 94% accuracy.
- Budz won a $50,000 scholarship at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for his project, aiming to create a more accessible and faster method for microplastic analysis.
- The project involved approximately 2,000 hours of work for both the robot and the camera system.