Tag Archives: Google Science Fair

Google Science Fair 2016: #howcanwe make things better with science?

Posted by Olivia Hallisey, 2015 Grand Prize winner, Google Science Fair

(Cross-posted from the Google for Education blog.)

Editor's note: The 2016 Google Science Fair opens for submissions today. Together with LEGO Education, National Geographic, Scientific American and Virgin Galactic, we’re inviting all young explorers and innovators to make something better through science and engineering. To learn more about the competition, how to enter, prize details and more, visit the site, and follow along on Google+ and Twitter. 

In this post, 2015 Grand Prize winner, Olivia Hallisey, joins us to reflect back on her own experience with Google Science Fair.
I remember the day I first heard about the Google Science Fair last year. I was sitting in my 10th grade science class when my teacher asked us: “What will you try?” I loved the invitation—and the challenge—that the Google Science Fair offered. It was a chance to use science to do something that could really make a difference in the world.

I had always been curious and interested in science, and knew I wanted to submit a project, but didn’t really know exactly where to begin. I asked my teacher for his advice on selecting a research topic. He encouraged me to choose something that I felt passionate about, or something that outraged me, and told me to look at the world around me for inspiration. So I did. At that time, the Ebola crisis was all over the news. It was a devastating situation and I wanted to help be a part of the solution. I had found my project.

With the outbreak spreading so quickly, I decided that I wanted to find a way to diagnose the virus earlier so that treatment could be delivered as quickly as possible to those who were affected. I read online about silk’s amazing storage and stabilizing properties, and wondered if I could use silk to transport antibodies that could test for the virus. After many failed attempts (and cutting up lots of cocoons) I finally succeeded in creating a temperature-independent, portable, and inexpensive diagnostic test that could detect the Ebola virus in under 30 minutes. I was really excited that my research could help contribute to saving lives, and I was proud to be selected as the Grand Prize winner a few months later.

As the 2016 Google Science Fair launches today, I wanted to share a few tips from my own experience: First, as my teacher once guided me to do, look at the world around you for ideas. If you’re stuck, try the Make Better Generator to find something that excites or inspires you. Second, find a mentor who’s interested in the same things as you. There are a lot of helpful ideas on the GSF site to get you started. And finally, don’t get discouraged—often what first appears like failure can teach you so much more.

I urge other teenagers like me to take this opportunity to find a way to make the world around them better. Every one of us, no matter our age or background, can make a difference—and as young people, we’re not always so afraid to try things that adults think will fail. But change doesn’t happen overnight, and it often starts with a question. So look at the world around you and challenge yourself to make something better.
Science isn’t just a subject—it’s a way to make things better. So I hope you’ll join the conversation and enter the Google Science Fair this year. Our world is waiting to see what you come up with!

Happy New Year from Google for Education

Posted by Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast

(Cross-posted on the Google for Education Blog.)

Editor's note: As we embark on this new year, we wanted to share a letter we sent to our Google for Education customers in North America celebrating the great work of 2015. Thanks to our entire education community for making 2015 such a strong year. We look forward to what we can do together in 2016 for educators and the world’s future inventors and changemakers.

Dear Google for Education Friends and Family,

What a year we’ve shared. First: thank you to the extraordinary teachers, students, administrators and others who make Google for Education strong. We couldn’t do it without you. In 2015 you activated 30,000 Chromebooks every school day more than all other education devices combined and you helped us grow to more than 50 million using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and 10 million using Classroom.

As educators, you put Chromebooks in the hands of 90,000 students in Charlotte and 84,000 students in Chicago; you moved the entire Montgomery County, Maryland school district to GAFE and Classroom; you improved young learners performance by 19 percent with the support of Google devices at the Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy in the UK; and you brought science education to rural Australia using Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and GAFE at John Monash Science School.

And we’re just getting started: here at Google we’re committed to bringing the best of technology to education. We’re investing heavily in Chromebooks and you can expect to see many new Chromebooks created for you in education. You’ll also see new management features for administrators and pioneering Chrome tools like this year’s Share to Classroom extension. And we’ll continue to bring Google innovations to the classroom as we did in September with the Expeditions Pioneer Program — already more than 100,000 students have taken virtual field trips to places like the Great Wall of China and Chichen Itza using Google Cardboard and a phone.

Giving back to education is important to us. Along with offering the GAFE suite and unlimited Drive storage at no cost to schools, this year we contributed more than $50 million, including more than $14M to education nonprofits, $1.3M in scholarships, and $21.7M funding new research. With programs like Google Science Fair, Made with Code, CS First and Doodle4Google, we’re working to inspire and encourage young people to solve tomorrow’s problems through curiosity, creativity and code.

Thank you so, so much. Your support in 2015 was an inspiration to us. We wish you a Happy New Year, and we hope to continue to do great things together in 2016.

Hiroshi Lockheimer
Senior Vice President for Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast

Take a look through our Google for Education 2015 Year in Review.

Stay in touch in 2016 at google.com/edu with our blog, Google+, Twitter or a Google Educator Group.












































Happy New Year from Google for Education

Posted by Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast

Editor's note: As we embark on this new year, we wanted to share a letter we sent to our Google for Education customers in North America celebrating the great work of 2015. Thanks to our entire education community for making 2015 such a strong year. We look forward to what we can do together in 2016 for educators and the world’s future inventors and changemakers.

Dear Google for Education Friends and Family,

What a year we’ve shared. First: thank you to the extraordinary teachers, students, administrators and others who make Google for Education strong. We couldn’t do it without you. In 2015 you activated 30,000 Chromebooks every school day — more than all other education devices combined — and you helped us grow to more than 50 million using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and 10 million using Classroom.

As educators, you put Chromebooks in the hands of 90,000 students in Charlotte and 84,000 students in Chicago; you moved the entire Montgomery County, Maryland school district to GAFE and Classroom; you improved young learners performance by 19 percent with the support of Google devices at the Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy in the UK; and you brought science education to rural Australia using Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and GAFE at John Monash Science School.

And we’re just getting started: here at Google we’re committed to bringing the best of technology to education. We’re investing heavily in Chromebooks and you can expect to see many new Chromebooks created for you in education. You’ll also see new management features for administrators and pioneering Chrome tools like this year’s Share to Classroom extension. And we’ll continue to bring Google innovations to the classroom as we did in September with the Expeditions Pioneer Program — already more than 100,000 students have taken virtual field trips to places like the Great Wall of China and Chichen Itza using Google Cardboard and a phone.

Giving back to education is important to us. Along with offering the GAFE suite and unlimited Drive storage at no cost to schools. This year we contributed more than $50 million, including more than $14M to education nonprofits, $1.3M in scholarships and $21.7M funding new research. With programs like Google Science Fair, Made with Code, CS First and Doodle4Google, we’re working to inspire and encourage young people to solve tomorrow’s problems through curiosity, creativity and code.

Thank you so, so much. Your support in 2015 was an inspiration to us. We wish you a Happy New Year, and we hope to continue to do great things together in 2016.

Hiroshi Lockheimer
Senior Vice President for Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast

Take a look through our Google for Education 2015 Year in Review.

Stay in touch in 2016 at google.com/edu with our blog, Google+, Twitter or a Google Educator Group.









Google brings educators, startups and researchers together in North Carolina

Posted by Helen Hwang, Google for Education

Editor's note: We're going across the U.S. to shine light on the great things schools are doing with technology at the statewide level, with North Carolina up first. North Carolina is a strong Google partner. From the rollout of broadband infrastructure to the adoption of Google for Education, Google for Work and Google Cloud Platform in schools, nonprofits, labs and startups, Google technology is helping to liberate learning, empower employees and give researchers tools that can help solve real world problems.

North Carolina’s Research Triangle has a rich tradition of fostering quality education, research and entrepreneurship – prime areas for investment and innovation. In fact, Google is now laying thousands of miles of state-of-the-art fiber optic cable that will expand internet connectivity in the area. In the spirit of building next-generation technologies, the Google Cloud Platform and Google for Education teams hosted an inaugural Innovate with Google event at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill.

Startups, researchers and educators come together to innovate 

The event brought together more than 200 educators, startup executives, life science researchers and others who are innovating with Google. They’re building new teaching models, services and scientific advancements designed to improve lives.

Attendees heard from Jonathan Rochelle, Google’s director of Product Management, who discussed innovation used by billions of people. He gave the example of his own XL2Web startup that became Google Sheets and Expeditions, which allows teachers to take students on virtual field trips.

A panel of educators, students and entrepreneurs shared stories of creating change with technology. Brittany Wenger, Duke University student and Google 2012 Science Fair winner, shared her experience of teaching herself how to code and building a platform powered by Google App Engine that predicts breast cancer with 99 percent accuracy. Dr. Valerie Truesdale of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools talked about the district’s Chromebook program (83,000 devices across 168 schools), which began with researching what age group most needed the devices. Sarah Noell of North Carolina State University discussed how faculty and students are working together to design engaging lessons that inspire creativity.

Learning, building and scaling 

Attendees chose from breakout sessions in genomics, startups and education. In the education track, teachers and school administrators shared how they’re rethinking traditional teaching and learning methods with help from Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks. Teachers also got hands-on with tackling current educational challenges with a 10X Design Thinking workshop. Jamel Mims of the Urban Arts partnership led a challenge on how to align pedagogy with art and culture to engage students. He shared his approach of teaching history through rapping. Ellie Gamache of American Underground led a group on how to foster community between local schools, universities and startups to drive innovation and embrace diversity.
Attendees worked in small groups with tools like pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, construction paper and Play Doh to brainstorm ideas to solve different educational challenges.




The genomics breakout sessions appealed to attendees whose work with big data uses the very same cloud computing platform that powers the Google backbone and services like Search, Maps and Google Genomics. The non-profit organization Autism Speaks, for example, discussed how they’re sequencing 10,000 whole genomes and building the world’s largest private collection of autism-related DNA samples. They shared how they already uploaded nearly 100 terabytes of data from more than 1,300 genomes onto Google Cloud Storage and how they make this genomic data available to researchers for free via the Google Cloud Platform, searchable through BigQuery.

The future looks bright for students, teachers, scientists and entrepreneurs in North Carolina. From research on Autism to creating new companies to enabling students to collaborate on projects remotely, Google tools are providing the building blocks people need to turn their big thoughts into reality and build a better tomorrow.

We’ve heard great stories from many of you about how you’re using technology to do amazing things in your schools, so we're going across the U.S. to see for ourselves! North Carolina was the first state we visited. Check out the map below to see where we’ll head next. We’d love to hear what’s happening in your state, so please share your story on Twitter or Google+ and tag us (@GoogleEdu) or include the #GoogleEdu hashtag.

Supporting our young scientists through the Google Science Fair

Posted by Mariette DiChristina, Editor in Chief of Scientific American and Chief Judge of the Google Science Fair

(Cross-posted on the Official Google blog)

Editor's note: Mariette DiChristina is the Editor in Chief and senior vice president of Scientific American—the first woman to hold the role in the magazine's 170-year history. She has been a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2011 and served as president of the National Association of Science Writers in 2009 and 2010. She joins us here today to share her perspective on the Google Science Fair, which is in its fifth edition this year.

 This marks my fifth year with the Google Science Fair. In October 2010, when I had my first conversations with my friends at Google about their idea to create a global online science fair that any kid 13–18 could participate in, I thought it sounded pretty cool. But I couldn’t then imagine just how inspiring and powerful such a competition would turn out to be in reality.

At the time, I hadn’t even been editor in chief of Scientific American for a year, but I had real ambitions to try to do something to make a difference in educating our young people about science. You see, I believe that science is the engine of human prosperity—it’s the way we grapple with some of the world’s most challenging problems, from cures for diseases to living sustainably in a finite world. So I’ve always seen the idea of fostering evidence-based thinking in our next generation of global citizens as vital.

Now, five years later and working with partners LEGO Education, National Geographic and Virgin Galactic, the Google Science Fair has an impressive track record of enabling our world’s young scientists to shine. Over the years, they’ve tackled serious issues, like world hunger and the energy crisis. Their projects have worked on how to diagnose and treat diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. They’ve engineered flashlights powered by their hands and plastics made of banana peels. And to date, the fair has provided almost $1 million in scholarships, and sent four grand prize winners on trips around the world to further their scientific passions.

Tonight we added some new winners to that list as we recognized and celebrated the 2015 top 20 finalist projects and the bright young scientists behind them:
  • The Grand Prize went to Olivia Hallisey for creating a novel way to detect Ebola.
  • Girish Kumar won the Google Technologist Award for helping improve learning through auto-generated study questions.
  • The National Geographic Explorer Award went to Deepika Kurup for her idea to use solar-powered silver to create clean drinking water.
  • Krtin Nithiyanadam’s project focused on improved diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease and won him the Scientific American Innovator Award.
  • Pranav Sivakumar's automated search for gravitationally lensed quasars earned him the Virgin Galactic Pioneer Award.
  • Anurudh Ganesan took home The LEGO Education Builder Award for his unique twist on effectively transporting vaccines.
  • The Community Impact Award went to Lalita Prasida Sripsada Srisai for her corn cob water filtration system
  • Eliott Sarrey took home the Incubator Award for creating a smartphone-activated gardening robot 
If you didn’t get to tune in, you can still watch the Awards Show live stream and check out the complete list of impressive finalists and winners, including our first ever Inspiring Educator, Aydan Meydan from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In all of these finalists and the thousands of submissions from students in 100+ countries, we see something common. These students are inventive, thoughtful, and determined to help make the world a better place. All they need is a chance and a platform to do so. And, unlike some of us adults, they are ready to try things that other people think are “impossible.” I find them inspiring.

It’s imperative for us to support and encourage our young people to explore and challenge the world around them through scientific discovery. So we’re especially glad that Ahmed Mohamed—the 14-year-old clock maker from Texas—took us up on our invite to attend this year’s event. Curious young scientists, inventors and builders like him should be encouraged and empowered.
The past decades have brought tremendous innovations and challenges, and none of us knows what the future of scientific discovery holds. But I can tell you one thing: it’s going to be better thanks to these kids. They will be part of building a brighter future for us all—and as they do, those of us at Scientific American, Google, LEGO Education, National Geographic and Virgin Galactic will be cheering them on.

So start thinking of your ideas for next year! We can’t wait to see what you’ll try next. 

Spotlight on a Young Scientist: Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai

Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.



Name: Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai

Home: Odisha, India

Age Category: 13-15

Project title: Absorbing water pollutants with corn cobs






Lalita was inspired to find a use for corn cobs, unused agricultural waste, during a conversation with a tribal farmer in a nearby village. Considering the prominence of water pollution in her country, she decided to use the cobs to improve water quality and ultimately provide access to healthier drinking water. She tested several different methods and found that corn cobs can absorb chemicals, detergents and other pollutants directly from the water. Lalita’s project goal is to provide more clean water for nearby villages. 


What was the inspiration behind your project? 

When I was in nursery school, I dressed up as a corn cob and won the prize for the Fancy Dress Competition. Since then, corn has been one of my favourite vegetables. I love roasted, grilled or steamed corn ears, and roasted corn on the cobs is a popular street food in India. Interestingly, all the parts of the corn plant except the actual cobs are useful. I’ve wondered for a long time how to make use of corn cobs. One day I made a hole at the centre of a cob using a screwdriver. Then I poured some dirty water inside the hole and collected the extract from the other end. Surprisingly, the collected extract was devoid of all the suspended particles. This inspired me to search, examine and experiment whether we could clean wastewater by using corn cobs. This could reduce waste by using another form of waste. Luckily, I was supported by my mentor to plan the project in detail and encouraged to participate in this year's Google Science Fair.
Lalita's interest in corn started from an early age
When and why did you become interested in science? 

I am the privileged eldest daughter of my father, who’s a science teacher. Very often he used to take me to the chemistry lab so that I could perform experiments with his students. My frequent visits to the lab packed with variously coloured chemicals attracted my attention since childhood. In my home, I learned how to get around the kitchen from my mother. To me, mixing, soaking, roasting, grinding and baking different ingredients of right proportion to get maximum taste, flavour, energy and above all satisfaction is based more on science than art. Both of my parents ignited my interest in science from a young age.

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists? 

Always observe your surroundings keenly. You never know what scientific breakthrough you may stumble upon.

Spotlight on a Young Scientist: Anika Cheerla

Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.
Name: Anika Cheerla

Home:  California, USA

Age Category: 13-15

Project title: Automated and accurate early-diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease



While volunteering in a senior care facility, Anika was shocked to learn how many older adults suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Her curiosity led her to learn more about diagnosis of this disease, and she found that without a standard test or method for diagnosis, most doctors rely on their own opinions. She decided to create a tool that quickly and accurately diagnosed Alzheimer's and knew her brother, who loved science and coding, would be able to help her. By extracting image features from MRI scans, Anika built an interface for doctors to upload an image, enter some basic patient information and get a reliable Alzheimer's diagnosis. 

What was the inspiration behind your project? 

5.3 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s. The disease has killed my great-aunt, hurting my entire family. At the senior home I volunteered at, I met the victims of this illness. With Alzheimer’s everywhere around me, I wanted to make a difference and ease the lives of patients and their loved ones. I found that the majority of patients with Alzheimer’s are not aware of their disease, and therefore don’t get the proper care or treatment. This inspired me to build a tool that gives patients an early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

I was also inspired by research carried out by other researchers as part of the SDSS Quasar Lens Search (SQLS). Using an earlier version of the data set I utilized in this project, the SQLS researchers significantly increased the number of known lensed quasars. The success of the SQLS approach inspired me to develop my own method for identifying lensed quasars.

When and why did you become interested in science? 

My brother and I were eating dinner when he asked me the question that would change my life: how does gravity work? I didn’t know the answer, so he made me run around the galaxy (our house) and find space-time (a sheet), a planet (a big ball) and two meteors (small marbles). He stretched out the sheet and balanced the two marbles on the ends of it. Then he made me put the big ball at the center of the sheet. The big ball pushed down on the sheet, and as the smaller marbles rolled down the sheet towards the big ball, I felt omniscient.

I took the materials to school the next day, and explained how gravity works to most of 4th grade. I learned two things from this: One, teaching other people, in a simple way, how complicated matters work makes me look really smart. And two, people actually feel the same wonder and amazement I feel when I learn something new.

This might have been the experience that led me to teach later on in life. This might have been the experience that led me to keep a jar of marbles on my desk. But this was, for certain, the experience that made me question anything and everything in the universe. It was as if the big ball formed an indentation in my head, making the marbles and the tissue (the neurons and the blood) stop in their tracks and start rolling down towards the answers.

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists? 

We now live in an age where the learning process takes minutes. We get easy access to research papers, free courses and a myriad of other resources. When I started this project, I had only a basic understanding of programming and no idea what neural networks were, but from learning from the hard work of other researchers and teachers, I was able to build my tool. What I took from this project, and what people should always remember is that you can stand on the shoulders of giants when you want to touch the stars.

Spotlight on a Young Scientist: Pranav Sivakumar

Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.


Name: Pranav Sivakumar

Home: Illinois, USA

Age Category: 13-15

Project title: Automated search for gravitationally lensed quasars


Pranav’s shown interest in astronomy since looking up at the night sky at age 4. He later became interested in physics and worked in a lab focused on quasar research. Certain quasars (massive and extremely remote celestial objects, emitting exceptionally large amounts of energy ) cause an effect called gravitational lensing, which magnifies the light of distant galaxies that would otherwise be too faint to see. Compiling existing data from over 450,000 quasars, Pranav developed two algorithms to automatically find gravitationally lensed quasars and improve the accuracy and reliability of candidates identified for follow-up observations. Pranav’s most excited that his project and results might confirm the expansion of the universe, helping us determine our eventual fate. 

What was the inspiration behind your project? 

When I attended lectures at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, I repeatedly heard the phrases “dark matter,” “dark energy” and “future of the universe.” Curious by nature, I asked questions about these topics and eventually learned that very little is known about these two phenomena; in fact, the term “dark” literally describes our limited knowledge of them. I learned that gravitational lensing, which is caused by massive astronomical objects bending light and which results in multiple images of an astronomical light source, is an effective way to study these constituents of the universe. In particular, studying gravitational lensing of quasars, some of the brightest and most distant objects in the universe, may hold the key to understanding our future.

I was also inspired by research carried out by other researchers as part of the SDSS Quasar Lens Search (SQLS). Using an earlier version of the data set I utilized in this project, the SQLS researchers significantly increased the number of known lensed quasars. The success of the SQLS approach inspired me to develop my own method for identifying lensed quasars.

When and why did you become interested in science? 

In the age of the Internet, it’s perhaps ironic that my interest in science started with a book. At the age of seven, I found a book called “Great Physicists” in my house; I picked up the book and found it fascinating.

As my interest in physics grew, I began reading books more focused on astrophysics and cosmology by Michio Kaku. When you see a book at the library titled “Physics of the Impossible,” it’s difficult to ignore!

The lectures at Fermilab were formative in crystallizing my interest in science. Though I understood only one or two words of the science being discussed in the talks, what stayed with me was the energy and excitement of scientists challenging each other in the room.

Science feeds my curiosity by allowing me to ask complex questions, challenge assumptions and explore interesting topics without worrying about assignments or tests. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle; there’s a great amount of satisfaction when the pieces start fitting together.

The “Aha” moment is priceless – just ask Archimedes!

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists? 

I learned from experience that starting small and building up to complex questions works best for young scientists. Feel confident about connecting with professionals – initially, it may be scary, but their willingness to help and their mentorship are worth much more than those few moments of anxiety.

When I ran into a technical roadblock, I contacted the primary researcher on the SQLS team in Japan; within 24 hours, he responded with valuable suggestions that I’m still pursuing to this day.

Spotlight on a Young Scientist: Alexey Tarasov

Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.






Name: Alexey Tarasov (Алексей Тарасов)

Home: Moscow, Russia

Age Category: 13-15

Project title: Using ternary logic on current electronics








Alexey had always been a computer science fan, but it was fixing a computer that really sparked his curiosity. He wondered why all modern day computers ran on binary logic, and if there might be a benefit to using ternary logic. Once he found out that a vintage USSR computer did, in fact, rely on ternary logic, he knew he wanted to test this logic on current electronics. Alexey’s model successfully used ternary logic, and he’s excited to create new ternary logic elements for integrated circuits and computer systems. 

What was the inspiration behind your project? 

I was inspired by the old Soviet project called "Setun."

When and why did you become interested in science? 

All my life I was interested in engineering. I was very interested in the structure of different devices and desired to create. This is what pushed me to study technologies.

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists? 

It's not enough to just discover something new. You need to make it useful for mankind. Good luck!

Spotlight on a Young Scientist: Eliott Sarrey

Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.



Name: Eliott Sarrey

Home: Lorraine, France

Age Category: 13-15

Project: Bot2Karot: gardening through a smartphone-activated robot





Eliott loved the idea of gardens, but not the time commitment needed to tend them. He wondered whether he could apply his knowledge and passion for video games and video programming towards growing vegetables. With help from his father, he built a rolling robot controlled by a smartphone app he created. Since the manufactured Bot2Karot can use its manufactured arms and tool holders to hoe, water and transplant, Elliot’s extremely excited about the possibilities with his own robot. He believes he can broaden his initial aim to help people with limited mobility and access. 


What was the inspiration behind your project?

People I know spend a lot of time on gardening simulators (games). On the other hand, my family’s actual garden requires a lot of real work and attention. After careful observation, I wondered whether I could mix the idea of the gardening game with the fun of having real vegetables to eat. What if we could create a robot to take on cumbersome gardening tasks using our smartphones, so that gardening becomes a smartphone game?

When and why did you become interested in science? 

When I was quite young, I spent a lot of time in my father’s small workshop. I also liked to play Legos, and with this experience, I could dig into subjects like mechanics and physics. Three years ago, together with friends, I created a computer science club and a robotic club at my high school. That’s where I learned how to program. At home, I created small robots and robotic arms, which became the real inspiration for my project.

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists?

First of all, be curious! That’s how you come up with ideas. Seek solutions and always ask yourself how to improve on them. Once you have found your idea, do some research, persevere, investigate other solutions and keep optimizing your solution.