Local students create "socially smart" irrigation system
When you think of water conservation, irrigation systems and artificial intelligence, the first image that comes to mind is most likely not that of a budding business run by 10 and 11-year-old students.
Yet, that's exactly what Hydrologicai is-a water irrigation system that uses artificial intelligence to measure soil moisture of a homeowner's lawn and intended to correct the amount of water used to save money.
The system is run by a team of fifth and sixth graders called Hurricane Hydro from the Mitchell Intermediate School in The Woodlands who as part of the robotics program at the school, designed and built a Lego robot for an annual First Lego League Robotics competition. The theme this year was Hydro Dynamics.
Donning light blue shirts that read, "Stand Clear: Hurricane Hydro, Category Awesome," the students presented their patent pending project to the San Jacinto River Authority Board of Directors during their regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, Dec. 14 in Conroe. After the presentation, the board congratulated the team.
Each student has a "job title" and a responsibility within the organization.
Take Oliver Belforti. He's the company's legal and intellectual property director. He's also 10-years-old. His responsibilities during the project included researching competition, patents and filing a provisional patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, he told the SJRA board.
Katherine McLean, science teacher and robotics program coordinator at the Conroe Independent School District, said the goal of this year's challenge is to get students thinking about how to solve real-problems about human water usage.
"Kids have to identify a problem within a human water cycle," McLean said. "Then [the students] come up with an innovative solution to the problem they identified. They identify the problem by doing research and looking online, thinking about things."
Those problems can be anything from how do humans transport water, how do they interact with water, use water and conserve water, she said.
When students choose the focus of their project-in this case a way to conserve water during lawn irrigation-they must decide whether they want to tweak an existing solution or come up with their innovative solution.
Hurricane Hydro created their own solution.
Gabriel Belforti, an electronics engineer who mentors the team, said the students' project-Hydrologicai-is a way for the kids to get motivated about their education.
"It's about learning, it's about being curious and it's about stimulating them for their STEM studies," Gabriel Belforti said. "It's about having fun and getting excited about things that can change the world in the future."
People want green grass and a low water bill, Belforti said.
The students' place a camera on their irrigation system to check the greenness of the lawn and AI-the children chose Amazon's Alexa-will determine if the grass is "enough green," Gabriel Belforti said. "It will try to irrigate very smartly, so that there it doesn't produce any runoff or over irrigation. That's why they have moisture sensors."
The result is a "socially smart irrigation system" that self regulates, saves money and conserves water, he said.
In 2013, The Woodlands Joint Powers Agency, began an odd/even program as a way to regulate watering in The Woodlands. A resident's address would determine the day and time they could water their lawn, according to information from the WJPA's website.
The average person uses 80-100 gallons of water every day, according to data from the United States Geological Survey, which compiles national data on water use. After winning a recent tournament qualifier at Knox Intermediate School competing against 32 teams, Hurricane Hydro will advance to the regional competition in at the George R. Brown Center in Houston.
The Conroe ISD has more than 70 robotics teams in the district across elementary, intermediate and high school campuses. Thirteen of those teams are at Mitchell, McClean said.