Junior Evan Yu Girard-Sun and freshman Emily Zhang from Arcadia High School won 2nd place in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO), an international STEM competition. It was held in Puerto Rico from Oct. 1-3. Their robotic invention is called “Fire Watch,” which is a drone that detects early-stage wildfires and can be helpful for firefighters especially in the dry weather of the San Gabriel Valley.
Yu and Zhang earned the Silver Medal in the Senior Future Innovators category. This was an incredible result by them, losing only to the Romanian team, “MeshWatch.”
WRO was founded in 2004 and brings together young people worldwide to foster creativity and problem-solving through robotic competitions. This year’s theme was “Earth Allies,” challenging teams to explore how robots help humans coexist with nature and address environmental challenges. WRO tournaments span over 95 countries and feature four categories: RoBoMission, Future Innovators, Future Engineers, and RoBoSports.
This event was judged by both national and international judges. Zhang and Yu’s skills and ability to face problems impressed judges for its innovation and real-world impact.
Yu assembled the drone using parts he got from Amazon. He soldered the necessary wires and connected them to the battery, then assembled the pixhawk and started calibrating the drone. He also printed additional parts for easy compatibility with their Artificial Intelligence (AI) system.
“The building part itself was in my opinion the most fun,” explained Yu, saying he learned a lot from gathering different supplies.
For the AI Machine Learning System on the drone, Yu and Zhang gathered training images online and then labeled them using Roboflow or Labeling, two different softwares, and then tested them on computers.
Initially, Zhang and Yu were not sponsored when they attended the international competition, but after securing 2nd place, they hope that some companies will sponsor them for competitions in the future.
Looking back on this competition, Zhang realized she had learned a lot from this experience.
“I learned from this competition that anything could go wrong, and you needed to be ready for it,” said Zhang. “We also had to overcome a lot of challenges by not giving up.”
Zhang and Yu spent hours researching and coming up with ideas on what invention they could use to benefit the community. Their idea stemmed from the wildfires happening in California recently and noticing that the only ways of prevention so far have been human fire watchers. They wanted to create a more effective solution for solving this important problem.
Reflecting on their experience, Zhang shared her thoughts on their unexpected win and encouraged more girls to explore diverse roles in STEM fields.
“I was honestly surprised at winning 2nd place,” said Zhang. “I’m also very grateful and excited about this win. I also encourage more girls to join STEM.”
