Aussie 19-year-old Oliver Nicholls has taken home the top prize and $US75,000 at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for designing and building a fully autonomous robotic window cleaner.
Nicholls, from Barker College in Sydney, was named the winner of the Gordon E. Moore Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for his fully autonomous robotic window cleaner – designed to reduce human injury and decrease the costs of window cleaning on medium rise commercial buildings.
The small robotic device uses drones, motors and propellers to navigate building facades and clean windows using water and micro-fibre scrubbers. The final product went through rigorous prototyping, testing and evaluation to show commercial viability.
Nicholls said he was inspired to create an autonomous window cleaner system to prevent worker accidents.
“At school I was looking for a project to do and I was talking to the OH&S people about safety incidences and discovered that someone had fallen off a glass pane they were cleaning and at a similar time there was a collapse of a gantry in the city,” Nicholls said.
“And so, these two… two things combined for me to go, ‘Why can’t I just automate, make that a robot, why does that need to be a person doing a dangerous activity, why can’t that just be a robot that goes and does it?’.”
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), a program of Society for Science & the Public is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition.
Each year more than1800 high school students from more than 75 countries, regions, and territories are awarded the opportunity to showcase their independent research and compete for on average $4 million in prizes. The BHP Billiton Foundation and Intel Foundation provide support for the BHP Billiton Foundation.
Nicholls was also the winner of the 2018 BHP Billiton Foundation Science and Engineering Award.The BHP Billiton Foundation Science and Engineering Award finalists attended Intel ISEF as part of the BHP Billiton Foundation Science and Engineering Awards Australian delegation and STANSW’s Young Scientist delegation.
CSIRO Education and Outreach director Mary Mulcahy said it was another example of Australia’s great science being recognised on the global stage.
“Australia is one of the best places in the world to start a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). By having our high school students winning international awards, we are further strengthening our international reputation as an innovative country,” Mulcahy said.
Watch the full interview with Oliver Nicholls below
Oliver Nicholls from CSIRO on Vimeo.