Burnside student’s wheelie bin robot wins PM’s award
Lego, an analytical mind and a desire to solve a problem have earned a Christchurch student the $50,000 Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize.
Burnside High School year 13 student Thomas James spent two years designing a robot to take wheelie bins to and from the kerb for the elderly and disabled.
The idea came to him after his neighbour’s doctor told her she should not be taking her bin out as she was likely to have a fall.
‘‘My grandparents also have a really long driveway and they don’t use their wheelie bin because of the inconvenience of taking it out,’’ he said.
Thomas, 17, consulted with potential users, Age Concern and waste collection company Waste Management, and began computer modelling prototype designs.
From there he created small-scale Lego models to test the designs’ feasibility, before building a full-size robot, working with detailed electronics and computer programming.
It wasn’t a smooth journey, however, with the first efforts proving unsuccessful and sending him back to the drawing board.
He also had issues getting the navigation right, as the robot made errors with distance and bearings, sometimes sending the wheelie bin into the garden or onto the road.
‘‘There was definitely a time where I thought I am not going to be able to improve the navigation. [But] when you get stuck in one area you just put it on hold and keep it in the back of your mind and work on something else.
‘‘You’re always brainstorming and when a breakthrough happens it can be from an idea you had way earlier.’’
Sadly Thomas’ neighbour and inspiration for the project died in 2018 so was not able to see the final result, but Thomas is determined to help others with his invention.
He was now working to improve the robot’s navigation reliability and intelligence so it could identify objects obstructing its path, before looking into mass production.
Burnside head of technology John Creighton said he had watched Thomas grow over time with his ability to think through a problem thoroughly before tackling it.
‘‘It’s fantastic to see students break through a traditional limit and extend and go beyond,’’ he said.
University of Canterbury associate professor of the department of mechanical engineering Don Clucas, who nominated Thomas for the award, said he was a very talented engineer.