The BHP Billiton Foundation Science and Engineering Award winner for 2018, Oliver Nicholls has reached another milestone.
He has won US$75,000 for top prize of the Gordon E Moore Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) announced in Pennsylvania, US, in May.
The 19 year old who graduated from Barker College last year secured the win with his fully autonomous robotic window cleaner that is 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 $2300 device can withstand 28 miles per hour winds and could replace traditional methods that can exceed $11,000 per cleaning and reduce injuries in this high-risk occupation.
I used new skills and applied my knowledge to a real world problem by designing and building a robotic window cleaner for high-rise buildings. It was a big risk taking on such a complex project
- OLIVER NICHOLLS
The Intel ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college science competition and attracts about 1700 students from 81 countries.
This is the first time that a non-American student has won the grand prize.
On judging day, each project was allocated four judges – each with a PhD as a minimum requirement and an expert in their field.
Throughout judging day, 19 judges vetted Oliver’s project, drilling him with questions that were highly technical around the nature of his coding, loopings, electronics and interfacing.
One of the judges indicated to Oliver he lived on the 75th floor of a high rise building and the largest maintenance cost of their building strata was window cleaning.
Oliver’s passion for STEM and robotics allowed him the opportunity to merge engineering with robotics for his HSC Design and Technology major work.
“I used new skills and applied my knowledge to a real world problem by designing and building a robotic window cleaner for high-rise buildings,” he said. “It was a big risk taking on such a complex project and I was never sure if I could pull it off until the very end.”
- Visit www.barker.college