Inspiration
Shaamil Karim among the 100 regional finalists for the Google Science Fair contest
15-year-old Indian origin boy among the 100 regional finalists for the prestigious Google Science Fair contest.
Shaamil Karim, a 15-year-old Indian boy based in Dubai has topped the list of 100 regional finalists for the prestigious Google Science Fair contest.
His project focused on minimising power wastage and making street lights smarter. It saves energy by detecting if a car or person is passing by and makes the next street light brighter and the previous light dimmer.
Instead of using expensive infrared-based motion detectors, Karim used photo-resistors to detect the shadow cast by passing cars or people.
"For safety reasons, you cannot have the street lights off and then suddenly come on – as in the corridors in buildings – so the solution is to make them smarter by brightening and diming where and when appropriate," the 11 grade student said.
The whizkid said his project would be around 63 percent cheaper than infrared-based sensors as it would only need photo-resistors, cables and a microcontroller to fit to existing street lights in developing countries.
Calling his father his inspiration for the project, Karim told – "We were at a park late at night and all the lights were switched on. My dad said, 'Can't we do something about this?' I decided to do my project to make street lights smart," he said.
Image Courtesy: Gulfnews