At the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, an international pre-college science competition, many awards were given to young scientists for their unique designs and research, according to Business Wire.
The first place award was given to 19-year-old Oliver Nicholls who engineered an autonomous robotic window cleaner for commercial buildings. His design included a flying drone-like device that attaches to the roof of a building and is armed with a powerful spray spout. It also contains scrubbers that rotate. The device is estimated at $2,300 and can hold its place in up to 28 mph winds. Traditional methods for window cleaning can cost up to $11,000 and can result in many injuries.
Meghana Bollimpalli from Little Rock, Arkansas, received an award for her low-cost approach for synthesizing materials that could cut production and energy costs of making electrodes for supercapacitors. She combined common materials like tea and molasses with nitrogen and phosphorus in a commercial microwave. This formed a powder that can be used as a coating for electrode-like materials. The coating made the materials have similar properties of expensive metals like platinum.
Another participant, Dhruvik Parikh, from Bothell, Washington, received an award for the development of a less expensive ion change that membranes use for large industrial-scale batteries that store solar or wind-generated electricity. His design has 10 times more proton conductivity in the membrane than the industry’s standard membrane. It would also reduce production costs by approximately 30 percent.
“Intel congratulates Oliver Nicholls, Meghana Bollimpalli, Dhruvik Parikh and all of the participants on their groundbreaking research that will help solve some of today’s greatest global challenges,” said Rosalind Hudnell, Intel vice president of Corporate Affairs and president of the Intel Foundation. “When students from different backgrounds, perspectives and geographies come together and share their ideas, there is no limit to what they can achieve.”
The full list of contestants is available in the event program.