'I Robot' Inspired Idea Helps Teens Win $100,000 USD

Oregon teens Akash Krishnan and Mathew Fernandez are probably glad they took a break to watch I, Robot, while trying to figure out their project for the Siemens science competition - For that is where they got the inspiration for their brilliant idea, which earned them a cool $100,000 USD at the finals held in Washington D.C., on December 7th, 2010.

After seeing the robot in the movie able to sense its users emotions, they decided to try and improve the existing voice-recognition technology to indentify human emotions, with greater accuracy.

With the help of a program called Madlab, which has a number of high-level calculus algorithms, they put together a custom algorithm that detects normal emotions like anger, happiness, stubborn/forceful and neutral - a task that took the young men an entire year. When tested, their algorithm proved to be 60% accurate - which is a 20% improvement over currently available programs.

While the inventors are hoping to use their program to develop a wristwatch-like device to help kids with autism identify and interpret the emotions they hear, they have several other people interested too - Including the Federal government, who wants to use it for military intelligence.

The $100,000 USD prize in the individual category was awarded to Benjamin Clark, a senior at Penn Manor High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The 15-year old wowed the judges with his research on binary stars - which as the name indicates are pairs of stars that revolve around one central mass.

Often called the 'Super Bowl of Science', the Siemens competition in Math, Science and Technology, is one of North America's most coveted and prestigious competitions for high school students. Competitors can enter individually or as part of a team. After various rounds of regional competitions, six finalists in each category are asked to present their ideas or product to a panel of judges that comprises of nationally renowned scientists and mathematicians.

Besides the grand prize, runners-up also receive scholarships that range from $40,000 USD to $10,000 USD and more importantly, the bragging rights of being super smart! To check out the rest of the winners go to www.siemens-foundation.org.

Sources: Portlandtribune.com,Wusa9.com