Mod ‘cleans up’ up in global innovations competition

The ‘Clean Up Crew’ featuring four Year 7 students at Perth Modern School have been selected in the top 10 of a global innovations competition for their creative design using artificial intelligence for better recycling, successfully competing against thousands of teams from around the world.

Isaac Lee, Inesh Kumarathunga, Cassie Lee and Audrine Lee, all 12-years-old, were tasked with coming up with an innovative idea using artificial intelligence that would help humankind for the Imagine Cup Junior competition.

Their idea was an all-in-one AI device that collects and sorts waste material into appropriate categories to be properly recycled. Their presentation included a detailed analysis of how deep learning is leveraged in the design of their app.

“We wanted to do something for the environment for the competition and after brainstorming environmental problems recycling was what we picked to find a solution for,” Audrine, 12, said.

“We wanted a way to sort the different waste items so at first we decided to put a tag on each waste product, but we decided that would be very inefficient and costly so we just put an ultrasonic sensor that would detect the type of material of each product and sort them,” Isaac, 12, said.

‘This bin will benefit households because many people get confused working out what to recycle because the labels can be really confusing,” Inesh, 12, said. “With this bin you can just put rubbish in and there’s no hassle as the bin just sorts it for you.”

‘I think our design stood out because it has so many different functions, it also had the ability to move around and pick up rubbish from the floor,” Cassie, 11, said. “It’s also really good for the environment as pollution is a really big problem nowadays so we need solutions for pollution.”

Principal of Perth Modern School Mitch Mackay said the four students should be very proud of their innovative idea and for being amongst the global winners in the competition.

‘Our students are very innovative in how they look at problems and the solutions they come up with to help,” Mr Mackay said. ‘Hopefully one day a recycling bin such as our team imagined will become a reality.”

Each student in the Clean Up Crew won an Imagine Cup trophy and backpack valued at $300 USD.