One of the world’s largest international pre-college science competitions, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, has crowned a window cleaning drone as its 2018 winner.
19 year-old Oliver Nicholls from Sydney, Australia, triumphed over almost 1800 participants from 420 affiliated fairs in 81 countries, regions and territories, who were all vying for a chink of the $5m awards and scholarships prize pot.
Nicholls won the $75,000 Gordon E Moore Award, named in honour of Intel’s co-founder, but it isn’t the first prize the autonomous bot has won. He also placed first in the Engineering category at the BHP Billiton Foundation Science and Engineering Awards in Melbourne back in February.
The prototype is a flying bot that can be tethered to the roof of a building and lowered down to a dirty window. The rotors move the drone away from the glass before the spray nozzle hoses down the window, and rotating pads wipe away the suds. The prototype cost €2,300 but can operate in 28mph winds, and was inspired when an employee at Nicholls’ school falling and breaking his leg.
PHOTO CREDIT: Intel
