Stephanie Santoso:
Hi, everybody;
welcome to the fifth annual
White House Science Fair.
I am so excited
to join you today.
My name is Stephanie Santoso.
I work here at the White House,
and I'm here with Bill Nye the
science guy --
Stephanie Santoso: Hey, Bill --
as well as Victor Cruz of the
New York Giants.
Victor Cruz: Thank you.
Stephanie Santoso: So today,
we are celebrating all of the
amazing breakthroughs that
students in science, technology,
and engineering and math have
made over the course of the
past year.
And we're also celebrating some
amazing commitments that are
being announced today to support
more ways for students to engage
in STEM, in science, technology,
engineering, and math.
And so, I'm actually here
with a number of our
student exhibitors.
We're going to learn a little
bit more about their projects.
So I want to turn it over to
Bill and Victor to introduce our
first team here.
Bill Nye: Any questions on
what we've covered
so far? No?
What's your project?
What'd you guys --
how'd y'all get here?
Amanda Arellano: We entered
a national competition,
and we designed a mental
health app for teenagers.
Bill Nye: Who have-- how
did you come up with this?
You saw a need.
Chloe Westphal: We all have
personal experience and being
teenagers, we just thought we
could offer a unique perspective
on how to deal with the problem.
Bill Nye: So if you have a phone
-- if I'm a teenager -- which I
was -- and you have a phone, you
can -- this thing will help you
do something?
Stephanie Lopez: Yes,
it will help you;
it has a journal where you
can write down your feelings,
and you can say them into there
if you don't feel comfortable
enough talking to someone.
You can say them there, and once
you do, you can have them there,
and you can pull out what you've
been feeling and what you've
been experiencing.
It also has a way to manage
like exercise techniques,
breathing techniques, and
resources to hotlines to reach
out and get help.
So the project --
Bill Nye: How long did it
take you to write this thing?
Stephanie Santoso: Yeah.
Stephanie Lopez: It took us --
the idea took us probably about
a month to code it.
We've been only coding
for like two weeks.
Stephanie Santoso: And you guys
won an actual competition right?
Stephanie Lopez: Yes, we won a
national Verizon app challenge
called Edition.
Stephanie Santoso: Fantastic and
what stage is your project
at now?
Where are you guys
going from here?
Amanda Arellano: Well, we're
still working on the coding part
of it.
So right now, it's just kind
of bare functionalities,
and we still have a lot to code,
but we're hoping to be finished
with it by June.
And it will be available
on the Google Play Store.
Victor Cruz: I think that's
an amazing app because kids
nowadays are shy about talking
about the things that they feel,
especially young teenagers.
So I commend you guys for making
an amazing app that kids can use
and not feel -- you know, not
feel shy about it and use it.
So congratulations.
Stephanie Santoso: Yeah.
Bill Nye: (inaudible)
teenager for a while.
Victor Cruz: At some point,
yes, I was a teenager.
(laughter)
And I wasn't always, you know,
as boisterous about my feelings
and stuff like that.
So if I had an app like
this when I was younger,
I would have definitely used it.
Stephanie Santoso:
Thanks so much and just,
we didn't get your names
or where you're from.
So maybe we could do --
we're doing a reverse intro.
So quickly before you guys have
to get back to your exhibits,
your names and
where you're from.
Stephanie Lopez: My
name is Stephanie,
and I'm from Tri-Tech Skills
Center in Kennewick, Washington.
Amanda Arellano: Amanda, and I'm
from Tri-Tech Skills Center in
Kennewick, Washington.
Chloe Westphal: Chloe, and I'm
from Tri-Tech Skills Center in
Kennewick, Washington.
Stephanie Santoso:
Thanks so much,
and congratulations
on being here today.
Victor Cruz:
Absolutely, thank you.
Stephanie Santoso: All right.
Victor Cruz: Not
too soon, too soon.
Stephanie Santoso: Today, we're
actually announcing what will
put us at over $1 billion in
commitments related to the
President's Educate
to Innovate campaign,
which is pretty amazing.
So I think we've got our next
group of student's up right now.
Victor Cruz: Okay.
There they are.
Come on in.
Stephanie Santoso: Do you want
to introduce yourselves briefly?
Your names and
where you are from.
Jonathan Hernandez: Yes.
Hello, my name is
Jonathan Hernandez,
and I am from Lancaster,
California, SOAR High School.
Fanta Sinayoko: Hello, my
name is Fanta Sinayoko,
and I'm from
Lancaster, California,
and we represent SOAR
High School and the team.
Victor Cruz: So tell us
about your invention;
what did you make?
Fanta Sinayoko: So our
team invented the ëris,
which is a blood alcohol
detection bracelet.
And basically how it works is --
Bill Nye: So let's say
I've been drinking;
I just take this
thing and blow on it,
and then it detects alcohol?
Fanta Sinayoko: Yes, yes.
Jonathan Hernandez:
Yes, yes the ethanol --
Bill Nye: And so, but those
things are normally these huge
machines, right?
Fanta Sinayoko: Yes. Exactly.
Jonathan Hernandez: We managed
to cut it to one-eighth the size
just because the -- we went to
a picked processor and stacked
them one on top of each other.
Bill Nye: The way you do. Yeah.
How long did it
take you to do this?
Jonathan Hernandez: Oh, it
took us a couple of months.
Fanta Sinayoko: It took
us a couple months.
Jonathan Hernandez: It was
definitely a process that took
hours, and hours,
and hours, and hours.
0:04:56.763,1193:02:47.295
Most definitely.
Bill Nye: So where'd you
get the rubber bracelet?
Is that a standard
thing that you can --
Jonathan Hernandez: Actually --
Fanta Sinayoko: This is
something that is 3D-printed.
We actually started with the
original polyethylene material,
and then we converted
it to silicone rubber.
So it's a lot more
finished bracelet.
Bill Nye: This is
so cool you guys!
It's beautiful.
Jonathan Hernandez:
Let's turn it on.
Bill Nye: And why did you
come up with -- I mean,
it's an unusual thing; you
guys are in high school right?
Fanta Sinayoko: Well, I'm a
first year in university.
(laughs)
Jonathan Hernandez: Well, in our
-- sorry -- in our community,
it's really prevalent problem,
drinking under the influence,
and it's something that needs
to be addressed everywhere.
And as we were
working on the ëris,
a local story was that a
neighboring high school,
who was our age at the time, she
was sleeping on her couch inside
of her house, and a man who
just decided to drink under the
influence was driving -- which
was already a horrible situation
-- and she's sleeping on her
couch inside of her house,
and he drives and he
crashes into her house.
And she dies, which is tragic.
Bill Nye: That is just horrible.
Jonathan Hernandez: It's tragic,
so we need to bring awareness to
awareness to drinking
under the influence.
And why should we stop --
Bill Nye: Driving
under the influence.
Jonathan Hernandez: Driving
under the -- sorry about that.
Bill Nye: Yeah, yeah, I got you.
Stephanie Santoso: So you found
-- you identified a problem in
your community --
Jonathan Hernandez: Yes.
Stephanie Santoso: -- not
only in your community,
but it's also a
national problem,
and you really wanted to figure
out a way to fix that --
Jonathan Hernandez: Yes.
Stephanie Santoso: -- so
that was how you did that.
That's amazing.
Bill Nye: This thing must
cost so much less than the
conventional machine, right?
Fanta Sinayoko: The cost is
actually 13 percent of the other
competitors, and
it is about $20,
so it is very cost effective.
Bill Nye: So that's an
87 percent reduction;
is that what you mean?
Fanta Sinayoko: Yes. Exactly.
Victor Cruz: Wow.
Jonathan Hernandez. Yes. It is.
Victor Cruz: Wow,
that's amazing.
Stephanie Santoso: Thank you
so much for being here today.
So we'll let you get back to
what I'm sure are lots of other
visitors who want to
check out your exhibits.
Victor Cruz: Absolutely.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Stephanie Santoso:
Congratulations.
Bill Nye: Carry on.
Stephanie Santoso: All right.
Victor Cruz: We've
got our next group.
Stephanie Santoso: So I think
we're ready for our next
student exhibitor.
So we have Sierra Seabrease
from Baltimore, Maryland.
Come over, Sierra.
Victor Cruz: Come
on down, Sierra.
Stephanie Santoso: Tell us a
little bit about your project.
Sierra Seabrease: So my
project is a digital jukebox.
Each key is one number,
each song is two.
So when you press two keys
that coordinate to a song,
they'll send a signal
to the Raspberry Pi,
which will then pull the song
from a Spotify playlist.
Bill Nye: So you
programmed Raspberry Pi.
Sierra Seabrease: Yes.
Victor Cruz: Oh, wow.
Bill Nye: How long did
it take you to do it?
Sierra Seabrease: A week
for the first version.
I've been working
on it since then.
So I started it in
December of 2013.
I've recently just finished my
last version a week or two ago.
Victor Cruz: So if I start
two keys of my favorite song,
it will automatically sync
through and find my favorite
song and start playing it?
Sierra Seabrease: It will --
since there's a list of 88 songs
that you can pick from --
Victor Cruz: Okay.
Sierra Seabrease: --
so if you want 42,
you press the four and
then you press the two --
Victor Cruz: I got you.
Sierra Seabrease: -- and then
it will send the signal to the
Raspberry Pi, pull the song
from the Spotify playlist,
and start playing it.
Victor Cruz: Got you.
That's awesome.
Stephanie Santoso: Kind of the
most awesome thing about the
project is that you took
-- it's a digital jukebox,
Sierra Seabrease: Yes.
0:07:56.108,1193:02:47.295
but you took an old piano right?
Stephanie Santoso: Okay, so do
you want to tell us -- how did
you -- where did you
get the old piano?
Sierra Seabrease: So the piano
was left in my tech center that
I attend --
Victor Cruz: Are you sure you
didn't take it from
Bill's house?
You sure?
(laughs)
Bill Nye: I'm sure because
that one's still there.
It was.
Wait a minute.
(laughter)
Sierra Seabrease: It was
abandoned in the old rec center
that we took over.
Victor Cruz: Oh, wow.
Sierra Seabrease: So I just --
they were recently going to get
rid of it.
So I decided to turn
it into a jukebox.
Bill Nye: So did you hook
switches up to every key?
Sierra: Yeah, every key is
wrapped in copper tape,
and then there's a ground
behind the copper tape.
Bill Nye: So it's a
mechanical contact?
Sierra Seabrease: Yeah.
Stephanie Santoso: What was the
hardest thing about the project?
What was the most
challenging for you?
Sierra Seabrease: Getting all
the keys to work in one go.
So each key would try -- like
would stick or they wouldn't
So it was really hard getting
all the keys to work.
0:08:42.121,1193:02:47.295
make contact.
Bill Nye: But you did.
Sierra Seabrease: I did. Yeah.
Bill Nye: Just had to take a lot
of things apart and put them
back together.
Victor Cruz: That's awesome.
Stephanie Santoso: Persevered?
Sierra Seabrease: Yeah.
(laughs)
Victor Cruz: I'll have
to find her station,
so I can dance a little
bit while we go up there.
Find my favorite song.
(laughs)
Bill Nye: Now, what's
a typical song?
What is 42, for example?
Sierra Seabrease: Forty-two --
Bill Nye: You can make
it up; we don't know.
Sierra Seabrease: (laughs)
I think it's Ed Sheeran.
Bill Nye: Oh, okay.
Victor Cruz: Nice.
Stephanie Santoso: He's playing
right now in the background.
Bill Nye: Number 17.
What about 17? Right?
Sierra Seabrease: Yeah.
Bill Nye: I'll love
you the whole time --
Sierra Seabrease:
Something like that.
Victor Cruz: (laughs)
Bill Nye: But so for example,
way down to the left is that
where I find Meghan Trainor,
"All About That Bass?"
Way down to the left?
Sierra Seabrease: (laughs)
So there will be nine keys,
or there's ten
keys counting zero,
so then if you want like 69, you
press the six and then you press
the nine, which will cue up,
"You've Got a Friend in Me."
Bill Nye: Okay.
Stephanie Santoso: So I think
maybe later today we'll have a
dance party?
Victor Cruz: Yeah, 100 percent.
Stephanie Santoso: On the
floor of science fair?
Victor Cruz: (laughs)
Bill Nye: So 88 songs, and 3
minutes a song, we -- yes,
that's going to be good.
We'll be here all night.
Stephanie Santoso:
Thanks so much, Sierra.
Sierra Seabrease: Yeah.
Thank you.
Victor Cruz: Absolutely.
Thank you very much.
Stephanie Santoso: Have a
great day at science fair.
Sierra Seabrease: You, too.
Stephanie Santoso: Bye.
All right, so I think we've
got our next student here.
Victor Cruz: Yes.
Stephanie Santoso: So
we've got Lily Born.
Lily do you want to come up and
tell us a little bit about what
you've been working on?
Victor Cruz: Come on down.
Stephanie Santoso:
It's really exciting,
and it's a great
personal story, too.
Do you want to
introduce yourself?
Lily Born: Sure.
My name's Lily Born, and I'm the
inventor of the Kangaroo Cup,
and it's pretty much a cup
that's much less likely to tip
over or spill, which I
originally invented for my
grandfather who has
Parkinson's disease.
Stephanie Santoso: And so, how
did you come up with the idea
where the cup because
it's really a unique cup;
it has three legs, right?
Lily Born: So I thought since
my grandfather was spilling,
then maybe if a cup had
something to lean off of,
it would be less likely
to tip over or spill.
Bill Nye: Because he
has tremors, right?
Lily Born: Yeah.
Bill Nye: That's what
you're saying right?
Lily Born: Well, yeah.
Bill Nye: Now and
then with Parkinson's?
Lily Born: Yeah.
Bill Nye: So this
cup doesn't spill?
Lily Born: It's less likely
to, but I wouldn't say
(laughter)
0:10:55.154,1193:02:47.295
it's impossible.
Victor Cruz: I'll take that.
I think this is important for
me because I've definitely had
people in my family
with Parkinson's,
and I've seen them spill and
you know, things like that,
so I commend you on making a
very great cup that you know,
highly less likely to spill.
But just something that they
have that will help them with
that is amazing.
Bill Nye: My experience
with Parkinson's patients,
they get nervous,
and it gets worse.
There's definitely
something mental.
Lily Born: Yeah.
Bill Nye: So if there's
confidence that they can set
this thing down
without spilling it,
it's probably --
that's really cool.
What's it made of?
Or do you have to kill
me if you told me?
(laughter)
Lily Born: The first one
was made out of ceramic,
and right now we're working on
the plastic version which --
Bill Nye: How did you
make one out of ceramic?
Lily Born: So we went to
China for the first one,
specifically Jingdezhen because
it's the porcelain capital of
the world.
So we thought that would be the
best place to kind of takeoff.
Bill Nye: Do you speak Chinese?
Lily Born: (laughs) I
know a small handful.
Stephanie Santoso: Was that the
first time you had ever been to
China before?
Lily Born: No, I've actually
been there about five times now.
Victor Cruz: Oh, wow.
Lily Born: Yeah, I'm
adopted from China so yeah.
Victor Cruz: Okay. Awesome.
Stephanie Santoso: And so where
does Kangaroo Cup go from here?
Lily Born: So right now, we're
hoping to get the plastic
version out this May.
And then, right now we're
thinking about the
Kangaroo Bowl.
We're not very sure, but
we're thinking about it.
Stephanie Santoso: Wow.
Bill Nye: So what year are you?
Lily Born: Huh?
Bill Nye: What grade are you in?
Victor Cruz: What
grade are you in?
Lily Born: Oh, I'm in 7th grade.
Stephanie Santoso:
That's amazing.
Victor Cruz: Wow.
Stephanie Santoso: So she's an
inventor, a problem solver,
and she's an entrepreneur at 12.
Bill Nye: I suck!
Victor Cruz: (laughs)
Stephanie Santoso: Way to go!
Stephanie Santoso: I can't even
think about what I
was doing at 12.
Bill Nye: I know.
Stephanie Santoso: I was just
trying to get through classes
I think.
Victor Cruz: Exactly.
Stephanie Santoso: Well,
congratulations Lily.
Victor Cruz: Absolutely,
congratulations.
Stephanie Santoso: Fist bumps,
we're doing fist bumps.
Victor Cruz: There we go.
Stephanie Santoso: Oh, wait.
(laughter)
Victor Cruz: Thank you.
Bill Nye: She's in
7th grade you guys.
7th grade!
Victor Cruz: That's amazing.
Stephanie Santoso: All right.
Let's bring up our next
two student exhibitors.
Victor Cruz: Let's do it.
Stephanie Santoso:
Come on up, guys.
Victor Cruz: Come on in.
Bill Nye: So Steph you should
have stayed turned to
the camera.
Greetings, greetings,
come on in.
Stephanie Santoso: Hi, do
you want to go this way?
Here's the mic to
introduce yourselves.
Bill Nye: So who are you, sir?
Mohammed Sayed: My
name is Mohammad Sayed,
and I'm from Cambridge.
Bill Nye: Cambridge,
Massachusetts?
Mohammed Sayed: Yes, so we
basically worked on a project
called Hacking Wheelchair
where we made attachments
for vultures.
I created this arm that's
called the Universal Arm.
And the Universal Arm has
multiple functionalities.
And overall, the
goal of this was,
so if you are in a wheelchair,
you need to beat the time,
so the whole thing will take you
like five seconds to assemble.
And they are all magnetized.
Bill Nye: Here, I'll hold this.
Mohammed Sayed: So what
happens is (inaudible).
Bill Nye: This looks like it
was printed; is that right?
Mohammed Sayed: It's
laser cut actually.
Bill Nye: Oh, laser cut. Yeah.
Mohammed Sayed: These
are laser cut, the wood.
But these are 3D printed.
Bill Nye: I see the layers.
Mohammed Sayed: And there's
actually magnets incorporated
inside, so when you put it
in you will not fall out.
And what is cool about this is
that also I made a (inaudible)
is actually at home.
It's not completed.
Stephanie Santoso: Did you
two work on this together?
Kaitlin Reed: So we have two
kind of separate projects that
are -- so we have two different
projects that kind of are
intertwined by the
concept of them.
So we both created
wheelchair attachments.
Should I get --
Bill Nye: So how did
you get involved?
I mean, I can see how
he got -- it's natural,
but how did you get involved?
Kaitlin Reed: So at school, we
were given the problem to hack a
wheelchair and then
make it better.
So what we did is we all
broke off into teams and made
different attachments that could
be added onto the wheelchair.
And I actually worked on a
hand-drive wheelchair attachment
that allows any wheelchair to
be powered by a rowing motion
instead of a wheeling motion.
Stephanie Santoso: That's
really interesting.
Mohammed Sayed: I'm
not using the tray.
I can use my arm
for other things.
For example, I am a filmmaker,
and I like big cameras,
so I made myself a tripod.
But I can't find this online,
so it goes to any camera.
Stephanie Santoso:
Oh, that's great.
Mohammed Sayed: And also,
I made a cup holder.
And the cool thing about
the cup holder is --
Bill Nye: Look how
lightweight it is.
Mohammed Sayed:
It is very light.
Bill Nye: Yeah.
Stephanie Santoso:
It snaps right in.
Mohammed Sayed: It snaps
right in, and it's magnetic;
it doesn't fall out.
And it's different because
in the state of other cups,
you can use a magnet as well
because this holds and allows
the handle to go.
Bill Nye: Yep.
Stephanie Santoso: So kind of
the amazing thing is this is
really versatile.
You can adjust and create
additional attachments based on
other needs you might have.
Mohammed Sayed: This is the
foundation and any attachment
you need, I have this in the 3D
software that I attach this part
to it.
And then you have --
Bill Nye: So you wrote software
to 3D print this stuff?
Mohammed Sayed: Yeah, I used
the Fusion 360 and right now,
actually all this was
made with measurements,
exact geometric measurements,
and then I 3D printed it.
Stephanie Santoso: Where did
you guys work on all of these?
Because some of these tools and
technologies like laser cutters
and 3D printers, did you have
those at your school or you
know, local space?
Kaitlin Reed: So we go to a
school called NuVu Studio,
and it's an innovation
lab in Cambridge.
And basically, it's a
non-accredited high school
that's all
project-based learning.
And so we have two week periods
of time when we work on
new projects.
And we have everything there
from musical prosthetics,
to hacking wheelchairs, to
solving global warming,
and basically, we solve all of
those problems and then as soon
as those two weeks are over,
then we go to a new one.
And we basically are taught,
like instead of like math and
English, we're taught how to
do CAD modeling, how to code,
and how to make films and
do animations and much more
technology-based and hands on.
Stephanie Santoso: So everything
is -- you're learning all that
stuff, but it's all integrated
into the projects that you guys
get to work on.
Kaitlin Reed: Yeah exactly. Yeah.
Stephanie Santoso:
And do you enjoy that?
Kaitlin Reed: I love it.
Stephanie Santoso: Yeah?
0:17:23.108,1193:02:47.295
Is that something
that you enjoy?
That's fantastic.
Victor Cruz: (laughs)
Bill Nye: How do you get into
that school rather than a
conventional school?
Mohammed Sayed: Well, actually
I was going to public school,
and then they actually
incorporated this program with
my public school
Cambridge Rindge & Latin.
Because I was so into film
and you know, engineering,
and business, I said this is a
place where I can combine
the three.
So I applied, and I got in, and
we started inventing this stuff.
Bill Nye: So this is
all just two weeks?
Mohammed Sayed:
This is two weeks,
but then we continued because
the more attachments I create,
I get extra time to do it.
Bill Nye: That's
just cool you guys.
Stephanie Santoso: So much
innovation in such a short
amount of time.
Bill Nye: Are you
going to market this?
Kaitlin Reed: Yeah, so basically
ours -- the hand-drive
attachment, so it -- because it
allows wheelchairs to be powered
in a more efficient way,
there're basically wheelchairs
that have this built into them,
and they cost anywhere from
$2,000 to $10,000.
Bill Nye: (inaudible)
Kaitlin Reed: Yeah.
And so because ours is entirely
3D printable and completely open
source, it can fit on any
wheelchair it only costs $40
to make.
Stephanie Santoso:
It' incredible,
low cost assistive technology.
That's amazing.
Kaitlin Reed: Which is less
than 1 percent of the cost.
Stephanie Santoso: Well, we
can't wait to see what you do in
the next two weeks.
(laughter)
Congratulations again.
Thank you so much.
Kaitlin Reed: Thank you.
Thank you.
Stephanie Santoso:
Congratulations.
Congratulations.
All right, so you know, we've
seen some amazing students
solving some real-world problems
from low cost assistive
technologies to you know,
clean water filters,
and we've got another team
here who's actually working on
something related to bees, and
they're the Bee Aware team.
So let's learn a little bit more
about what they've been doing.
Hi, guys, do you want to quickly
introduce yourself and tell us
where you're from and a little
bit about your project?
Virginia Winn: I'm Virginia
Wynn, and I'm from Marietta,
Georgia, and our team originated
from our summer camp,
the Village, that helps out
foster kids and neglected kids.
Stephan Ellis: My name is
Stephan Isaiah Ellis and --
Illya Winn: Okay, my
name is Illya Winn,
and I'm from Marietta, Georgia.
Our robotics team originated
from our summer camp.
Our team name is 5594, and
we're with First Robotics,
and we're doing FRC competition.
Want to go next, Taj?
Taj Rhodes: Yeah.
I'm Taj Rhodes.
I do a little bit of everything.
I helped wire,
build, and program.
So yeah (laughs).
Johnny Manuel: Hi,
I'm Johnny Manuel.
I'm part of the FRC team that
originate from our summer camp,
the Village -- I help build and wire everything.
Malachi Williams: Hey, my name is Malachi Williams and pretty
much. This is my first robotic team that I ever built. I'm from
Georgia. I'm sixteen years old
and I go to Tucker's
high school.
Victor Cruz: So how did you guys
come up with the idea of making
what you guys made?
Was it during summer camp?
Johnny Manuel: Yeah, it was
during summer camp; you know,
we didn't -- we're all really
good at working together,
so we decided we might as
well just do something.
And we just came
up with robotics.
Victor Cruz: Nice.
Bill Nye: (inaudible)
Johnny Manuel: Yeah, yeah.
We've been working on
it for about two months.
We've been working on
it for about
two months. Yeah.
Bill Nye: You're all different
heights this is crazy.
(laughter)
(inaudible) some things
that he can't reach.
Stephanie Santoso: So what was
kind of the impetus for -- what
was the -- sort of the
idea behind the project?
Like what gave you guys the
idea to work on this project?
recycling this year, and then
so we're -- we were basically
0:21:34.359,1193:02:47.295
Illya Winn: The competition
actually set it out for
lifting things and like moving
them off to the side -- it's
like moving like debris
or trash and rubble.
It's basically like -- basically
like moving debris or compact
debris and moving it and
putting it somewhere else.
Stephanie Santoso: So
you guys had to like,
they told you what the
task was in advance?
Illya Winn: Yes.
Stephanie Santoso:
Okay, very cool.
And where'd you guys get
the part for the robot,
or where'd you guys
find that stuff?
Illya Winn: We were
actually sponsored,
and they actually
shipped it to us.
And we got a starter kit,
like a basic chassis,
and then from the chassis,
we built onto the robot.
Stephanie Santoso: And had you
guys -- had any of you worked
with robotics before?
Were you kind of experienced?
Johnny Manuel: (inaudible)
Stephanie Santoso: Wow, so
what was that experience like?
Johnny Manuel: It
was hard at first,
but we had to stick together and
work together and finish it.
Stephanie Santoso: Yeah.
Do you guys think you'll work on
another robotics project or some
other type of tech or science
project moving forward?
Virginia Winn: Yeah, I think
we'll actually be better in the
upcoming next year,
since this is our --
Stephanie Santoso: You want to
improve and do even better.
Virginia Winn: Yeah.
We want to come back
next year and win.
Stephan Ellis: Yeah.
Stephanie Santoso:
Okay, all right,
well thank you so much
for being here today.
We're so excited to have you,
and we're really honored that
you were able to join us
for science fair today.
Johnny Manuel: Thank you.
Stephanie Santoso:
Yeah, congratulations.
There's just so much excitement
on the floor right now,
and you can probably hear
there's a ton of activity in the
Victor Cruz: All these
inventions -- all these
0:23:13.825,1193:02:47.295
background.
inventions are really cool.
Stephanie Santoso: I know,
and it's really inspiring,
and every time I talk to another
student, I think, "Oh man,
I should have more effectively
used my years in middle school
and high school."
Victor Cruz: What was I doing?
(laughs)
Bill Nye: That's very well said.
More effective.
You should have used your
time more effectively.
(laughter)
Stephanie Santoso: Let's bring
up another group of students.
Victor Cruz: Let's do it.
Stephanie Santoso:
Come on over, guys.
Victor Cruz: Come on in.
Stephanie Santoso: All right.
All of these colors and
patterns, I love it.
All right, do you want to tell
us a little bit about
your project?
Introduce yourselves and maybe
names and ages and then maybe a
little about your project?
Madelyn Hickman: Hi, (laughs),
my name is Madelyn Hickman,
and my age is 11, and
I'm about to be 12.
And we're from San
Antonio, Texas.
Kalista Ybarra: My name's
Kalista Ybarra; I'm 12,
and I'm from San Antonio.
Anthony Holmes: I'm
Anthony Holmes; I'm 13,
also from San Antonio.
Jacob Rubio: I'm
Jacob Rubio; I'm 11,
and I'm also from
San Antonio, Texas.
Stephanie Santoso: Will you guys
tell us what you're
exhibiting today?
Anthony Holmes: Yeah.
(laughs)
Kalista Ybarra: Our project
was about sodium tetraborate
crystals, and we were growing
them in a
microgravity environment.
Anthony Holmes: So casually.
(laughs)
Anthony Holmes: We were growing
sodium tetraborate crystals on
the ISS.
We actually got there
through a competition.
Stephanie Santoso:
And the ISS is?
Anthony Holmes: The
International Space Station.
Yeah, in space.
We went through a
competition called SSFEP,
Student Space Flight
Experiments Program;
it was district wide
for our whole school,
and from like 400 projects,
300 projects, we were chosen.
Victor Cruz: Oh
wow, that's amazing.
Congratulations.
Anthony Holmes: Thank you.
Victor Cruz: How long did it
take you guys to put all this
stuff together?
Anthony Holmes: Finishing from
today from when we started,
about a year and two months.
Victor Cruz: Oh wow.
Anthony Holmes: From
beginning to end.
Victor Cruz: Nice.
Bill Nye: So how big
is this experiment?
Anthony Holmes: Only
six inches long.
And half an inch short.
It's very small.
0:25:31.563,1193:02:47.295
Half an inch wide.
Bill Nye: And that took
you a year to (inaudible).
Anthony Holmes: Yeah, we needed
to make sure that nothing was
going to happen
wrong on the ISS.
Nothing would well, blow up.
Bill Nye: So did you -- did what
you predicted would
happen, happen?
Jacob Rubio: Well, we don't
really know that yet because
we're --
Bill Nye: You're waiting to see?
Victor Cruz: (laughs) Still
got to test it out, right?
See if it works.
Jacob Rubio: Yeah. Well --
Bill Nye: It's flying now?
Jacob Rubio: No, no.
Anthony Holmes: It's back
down; we actually have it.
In a way, our hypothesis was
correct, but also it wasn't.
Microgravity did change the
growing of the crystals,
but not in the way we predicted.
Bill Nye: So then you
discovered something new?
Anthony Holmes: Yes, in a way.
In microgravity, the
crystalline structures,
each cell is just randomly
placed all over the place.
No, I'm here; I'm there.
On earth, they're all
rectangular prisms, cube
prisms, yeah.
They're all even on
earth, but in space,
they're just like snowflakes;
they're just all random,
nothing compared to each other.
Bill Nye: So then,
let me ask you this.
Could you -- do you think
it's due to acceleration,
no microgravity --
in microgravity,
there's hardly
any gravity right?
So then would it be possible
to spin it or something?
And create some acceleration and
change custom shape the crystal?
Anthony Holmes: Scientists are
actually currently doing that.
Bill Nye: Oh, we are?
Anthony Holmes: Yeah.
Bill Nye: Go for it!
Madelyn Hickman: What?
Bill Nye: I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to terrify you.
(laughter)
They're trying that?
They're accelerating it?
Madelyn Hickman: Yes.
Bill Nye: Is it based on
discoveries that you guys
helped make?
Anthony Holmes: I'd
like to think so.
Victor Cruz: Absolutely.
Stephanie Santoso: We're looking
forward to future scientific
experiments that you guys are
going to launch into space,
so keep up the great work.
Anthony Holmes: Thank you.
Victor Cruz: Absolutely.
Bill Nye: See you in space!
Thanks you guys.
Carry on.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Cool.
Stephanie Santoso: So we've got
a number of additional students.
We're going to talk to one more
group of students here before we
sort of wrap things up.
Actually, two more
groups of students.
Come on over.
Do you want to
introduce yourself?
Tell us a little bit
about your (inaudible).
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Yeah, my
name is Sophia Sanchez-Maes,
and I'm creating an energy
infrastructure for the nation
based on algae.
So I'm sure you've heard
a lot about algae biofuel,
but with my project, we create
more energy than we take,
which is the first time that's
really been demonstrated -­
Bill Nye: That sounds like a
violation of the second law of
thermodynamics young woman.
(laughter)
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Oh, yeah.
Okay, so usually in the
bio-fuel production process,
it takes energy to make energy,
so one of the most energy
intensive steps was drying the
algae and extracting the lipids
prior to converting it to fuel.
With my reaction, I
eliminated that entirely,
with this process
that I've created.
Basically, we're pressure
cooking the algae along with
some catalysts to bring down
the energy required to do that.
And so that's one of the
really cool things I'm doing,
but it's still not
cost effective,
not compared to cheap
oil at the pump.
That's where the second
part of my project comes in.
So we're utilizing a certain
algae from Yellowstone;
it's an extremophile;
it can take a lot.
And it's actually
purifying our wastewater.
It takes out contaminants better
than the anaerobic bacteria that
we're currently using and
creates an energy positive
system; 35 percent of energy in
every city in the United States
is treating waste water, so
creating an energy positive
system is very non-trivial, and
we're pioneering that at my
local wastewater
treatment plant right now.
Stephanie Santoso: Wow, so
you're already pilot
testing this.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Yes,
and it's very promising.
Bill Nye: And you got the
bacteria from ponds
at Yellowstone.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes:
It's an algae,
and it's from the hot springs. Yes.
Bill Nye: Oh, algae yeah.
Sergio Corral: We're
two different groups.
Bill Nye: Oh, I see.
Stephanie Santoso: Do you
want to talk about yours now?
Sergio Corral: Yeah.
Isela Martinez: All
right, so my name's Isela.
Sergio Corral: My name's Sergio.
Isela Martinez: And so, we're in
a competition actually called We
Build Robots.
So what we have is we have
six weeks to build a robot.
Starting January, we get some
kind of task, and from then on,
we have to figure out some way
to make that -- make every
single thing we can to get
as many points as possible.
Bill Nye: This is a competition;
you're trying to win.
Sergio Corral: Yes.
So the robot we brought into the
White House was from last year's
competition, and last year's
competition was called
Aerial Assist.
And what you had to do is you
had to move an exercise ball
from one robot to another and
then score the exercise ball
into a goal around six and a
half feet all, around there.
And the way we accomplished this
is we have two aluminum arms
that start as our intake.
So it's down on the ground,
and so when the ball's on the
ground, we drive up to it.
Bill Nye: So is the ball heavy?
Sergio Corral: It's
an exercise ball.
Like the ones that you use.
It's big.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes:
Yeah, cumbersome.
Bill Nye: (inaudible)
Sergio Corral: Yes, the way we
solved that is we had a LIDAR
sensor in front of our robot.
Are you familiar with LIDAR?
Bill Nye: Light
infrared (inaudible).
Sergio Corral: Yes.
So we had one of those in front
of our robot close to our intake
system, so when we're
driving up to the ball,
it senses the velocity of the
ball as we're driving to it,
and if it's coming towards us.
So in the code that we wrote, we
wrote --once the ball is this
close and once the velocity
is this, close the arms.
So we kind of took the
human out of the equation,
so we don't have as
much human error.
Bill Nye: Did other teams
rely on their own control?
Sergio Corral: Yes. Yes.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: And one of
the coolest things about their
robot and all of First
Robots is the interaction.
So they're competing
against other bots;
they're playing defense;
they're playing offense.
And that's just
so cool to watch.
Stephanie Santoso: (inaudible)
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Exactly.
(laughter)
Stephanie Santoso: (inaudible)
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Oh, yeah.
Sergio Corral: It's a lot more
like a sport than battle bots.
We don't destroy each other.
It's like a sport; we try
not to hurt the other team.
But we do play defense to try to
not let the other team score.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: And the
excitement at the competition
is palpable.
Stephanie Santoso: Any
hardcore sports aura?
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Exactly.
Victor Cruz: Talk about coaching
and see if we can get you on
the field.
Gets the human element out.
Sergio Corral: Speaking of
sports, in Arizona, the AIA,
the people that do all the
sports stuff in Arizona,
they deemed robotics
as a sport in Arizona.
Victor Cruz: Oh, really?
Sergio Corral: So we're actually
having a state championship
in May.
So we're going to get one of
those fancy banners that they
put in the gyms for winning.
And we can also get varsity
jackets and letters.
(laughter)
Bill Nye: Because
you're going to win.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Yeah!
Sergio Corral: Absolutely.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Single of
the efforts are so awesome.
Computer science as
a second language.
Bots as a sport.
Stephanie Santoso:
(inaudible) in a good way.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes: Absolutely.
Victor Cruz: Well
congratulations.
Sophia Sanchez-Maes:
Thank you, all of you.
Bill Nye: Carry on.
Stephanie Santoso: Enjoy
the rest of the day guys.
So that's it from us here at the
White House science fair floor.
But stay tuned, we're going to
have remarks from the President
in just a little bit.
Bill Nye: The President!
Stephanie Santoso: The
President of the White House.
Bill Nye: Of the U.S.
Victor Cruz: Of
the United States.
Stephanie Santoso: He lives in
the White House and works at the
White House.
Anyways, signing off now;
thanks so much for joining us everybody.
