What do you do during a pandemic when you want to be on the robotics team, but are not comfortable meeting in person? Ella Collard, Diyaa Shah, and Clarice Owsley also wanted to move from building and coding a robot to addressing real-life issues with robotic solutions. They decided to continue on as a virtual, all-girl robotics team and tackle The Conrad Challenge, an innovative, global competition that, through science and technology, allows students to become entrepreneurs.
Inspired by the fires raging in California last year, the girls invented Pollution Patrol, which is an environmental drone that uses innovative and efficient technology to analyze air quality, identify pollutants and provide an analysis of potential health risks. As part of The Conrad Challenge, the team had to do lots of research on drone design, air pollution and potential competitors, and write a thorough business plan outlining their product, costs, production, market conditions, and potential customers.
All their hard work has paid off. Last week Captain and CEO Ella, CFO Diyaa and COO Clarice learned they had won a Conrad Innovators Award in the Environmental Category and are invited to join the alumni network of Conrad Innovators - a huge achievement for their resumes and careers. Pollution Patrol has also moved on to the finals round of the competition where they will continue to compete against teams from around the world.
The Robotics Booster Club congratulates Ella, Diyaa and Clarice on their accomplishments and continues to support their team. It is a group that believes in empowering students through technology education. The Booster Club would like to thank its HPHS family sponsors as well as RoboGlobal, Annandale Capital, Mesero, and BH-USA.