World Robot Olympiad 2020
Two school girls from Mumbai just gave another reason to be proud of Indian intellect. 11 years old Antara and 12 years old Prisha have secured 1st prize in the World Robot Olympiad 2020 which is a global robotics competition held for young minds. They invented a device that can cool hot air which comes out from air conditioners thereby, making them more energy-efficient.
Both girls are students of Jamnabai Narsee School from Mumbai. Both are known to be close friends and have spent up to 6 months in developing the device that helped them win the World Robot Olympiad 2020. They worked hard under the guidance of On My Own Technology, a Mumbai based institute for robotics. The prototype succeeded in reducing the harmful emissions from air conditioners in the environment. They wanted to use sustainable materials and so they went ahead with earthen clay pots.
After this, the next step was to participate in the World Robot Olympiad. However, the challenges were not a walk in the park. Over 26,000 teams from 75 countries participated in the Olympiad, the theme of which for 2020 was ‘Climate Squad’. Antara and Prisha were selected from a pool of 60 teams across the globe. The World Robot Olympiad took place in Montreal, Canada this year. However, the event was conducted online keeping in view the ongoing pandemic looming large.
What did the girls make?
Antara and Prisha have named their device ‘Aqua Clay Atmosphere Cooler or ACSquare’. This device uses clay cones to cool the air released by air conditioners. These clay cones are provided moisture through recycled water. As soon as hot air from the ACs is passed through the moist cones, it is cooled down almost immediately. Moreover, clay is an easy find in most of the states of India. Therefore, their product is both convenient and sustainable.
The girls implied various concepts of Physics like Boyle’s law and Venturi Effect to ascertain the shape and size of the cones. In order to keep track of the air conditioners’ energy efficiency, they also connected temperature and humidity sensors with a robotic circuit. They have also developed an app with MIT App Inventor to ascertain the exact temperatures for optimum cooling and to conserve energy emitted through ACs.
Both Antara and Prisha have been learning robotics for 4 years and they firmly believe that one can solve any in the world with robots.
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