By james art A Durham teenager has been praised for winning a prize in a national STEM competition.
Yash Mehta, a 14-year-old student from Durham, won a first place technology award as part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. His goal to create a low-cost braille reader showed enough promise and insight to impress the judges.
For his project, Mehta used tiny rotating motors to drive users’ fingers into patterns of Braille letters. He tested using two engine sizes, arranging six of each engine in three rows and experimenting with engine spacing. Mehta connected the motors to an Arduino, which moved the motors based on text from a computer. His findings show that smaller motors cannot withstand finger pressure while larger ones can. He also compared the distances between the motors to see which allowed people to read Braille with accuracy.
In September, Mehta was named one of 30 finalists for the challenge from an applicant pool of nearly 2,000 students from 48 states.
The competition is organized by the Society for Science, a non-profit organization.
For his work, Mehta won a $3,500 scholarship to a STEM summer camp. He has filed a patent for the device, according to the Society for Science.
In his free time, Mehta enjoys playing the piano and fencing. He is an eighth grader at Durham Academy.