This 16-year-old built an autonomous AI-powered robot turtle that finds microplastics in water

Evan Budz, a 16-year-old, developed an autonomous robot turtle equipped with an AI-powered underwater holographic camera to detect microplastics. Inspired by the fluid motion of real turtles, he spent thousands of hours building the robot and its sensing technology, achieving a 94% accuracy rate in identifying microplastics. This innovation earned him a $50,000 scholarship at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for its potential to make microplastic detection faster and more accessible than current laboratory methods.

• Evan Budz, 16, created an autonomous robot turtle designed to detect microplastics in water bodies.
• The robot uses an underwater 3D holographic camera combined with AI models trained to identify microplastics.
• Budz was inspired by the natural swimming motion of turtles and chose them as a model for efficiency and size to accommodate scientific payloads.
• He developed algorithms for autonomous swimming, depth regulation, and microplastic detection, achieving 94% accuracy.
• Budz won a $50,000 scholarship at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for his project, aiming to create a more accessible and faster method for microplastic analysis.
• The project involved approximately 2,000 hours of work for both the robot and the camera system.
  Continue reading https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-innovation-ai-robot-turtle-evan-budz-2026-7