The design for an emergency response robot that could fight fires and carry paramedic supplies has won a young Emirati the first ever Young Scientist Award.
Sultan Binbader, 17, from Umm Al Quwain will present his prototype to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
The award was part of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Festival, organised by the Ministry of Education, which recognised 24 students for eight outstanding projects and ideas.
Sultan is one of seven winners who will meet Sheikh Mohammed in person at Qasr Al Bahr in the capital to present their projects.
“I was looking for an idea that will help save lives and make a difference. I managed to achieve this by creating the emergency robot, which offers 12 services for visitors in public places."
The device multitasks and offers firefighting abilities and carries first aid supplies. It would also automatically clean itself, fill car tires with air - and charged mobile phones.
Sultan is an innovation ambassador and was sent to the United States for a month last summer.
"I came back with many ideas about how to improve and develop my project," he said.
“The award will definitely encourage me to move forward and create more projects. I hope that one of the companies will sponsor my project and present it to the world."
Hussain Al Hammadi, the Minister of Education, said the push towards science and engineering in schools in recent years is evident in the calibre of young designers being seen today.
“We have started to reap the developments made to the education sector and Emirati schools. The students' capabilities and skills have developed, even the way they have presented their projects and worked as a team has shown progress," he said.
Winners in other categories included Hamdan Ibrahim and Khalifa Al Sheebani from the Applied Technology High School, who designed a system that could reduce the amount of pollution in the air.
The topics for the year included media, the Year of Zayed, artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity and food security and safety.
The ministry also signed an agreement on Monday with the Swiss Science Centre Technorama, a museum outside Zurich, to utilise its personnel, knowledge and expertise to establish a science centre in the UAE.
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