He is also taking college-level robotics classes this summer
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NameMax Du
HometownCalgary, Alberta
Age 14
Claim to fame:
Max Du knows how to build a robot.
In fact, this spring, he won the Canada-wide Science Fair with his first presentation.
Max won the platinum award in his age category (grades 9 to 10) for “innovation” at the national competition on May 20.
His project, titled “A Novel Pre-Hospital Indoor Rescue Drone,” is a high-tech surveillance drone designed to save people suffering from cardiac arrest.
Here’s Max’s award-winning science fair project. (Image submitted by Max Du/Youth Science Canada)
Max spent six months testing his prototype, which cost $2,500 to produce. He did it with the support of his parents and #RisingYouth, an organization that helps fund community service projects created by young people.
How Max first got the idea
Max was inspired during the Christmas holidays last year.
“I got a toy drone from my parents, but I couldn’t fly it because it’s so snowy in Calgary,” Max said in an interview with CBC Kids News.
“So I started playing with it at home and it got me thinking about how a drone could be used as an indoor robot that could help people.”
Max began to think about people with severe heart conditions who are at risk of a fatal heart attack before an ambulance arrives.
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, about 35,000 people have cardiac arrests in Canada each year. The organization says most of these happen outside of a hospital.
In this short clip from Max’s science fair video, his prototype easily climbs the stairs to help someone in life-threatening cardiac arrest. (Image submitted by Max Du/Youth Science Canada)
Of those who have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, less than 10% survive.
Max believed a drone could deliver faster support and life-saving medicine, but he had to build it himself to know for sure.
The challenges Max faced
The painstaking process of testing his prototype took about six months. Max’s parents had to deal with the fact that their son was constantly flying – and crashing – different models at home.
Every time Max created an exciting innovation, such as an extendable arm that could administer a needle, he would add extra weight to his drone, causing it to crash and break.
Then Max would have to buy all new parts and start over.
Max tested his prototype extensively, changing the balance point in his robotic coding of the contraption and using lighter materials until his design was more balanced.
In this short clip from Max’s science project video, Max shows how his bulky design made it difficult for his drone to take off, left, compared to how it flew after redesigning his prototype, shown at the right. (Image submitted by Max Du/Youth Science Canada)
He also had to be resourceful and use what he had to keep costs down, borrowing his mum’s selfie stick to create an arm system, his dad’s camping air pump to test out a design idea and his sister’s dental floss kit to create a medicine pill. .
Through trial and error, and talking to his FIRST Tech Challenge advisors (a robotics competition Max attended in 2021), the 14-year-old finally got it right.
His new drone can now grab a door handle, open it, hover in the air, and then land softly on the ground.
A new extendable arm can be released to administer a vaccine or deliver a life-saving drug to a patient.
An integrated surveillance camera could connect directly to an emergency response team whose members could monitor the patient remotely.
Max wanted to design an extendable arm for his drone that could also open doors to help people with severe heart disease. (Image submitted by Max Du/Youth Science Canada)
His science teacher encouraged him to enter a science fair across Alberta. When his project won a top prize, Max qualified for the Canada-wide Science Fair, and the rest is history.
Could Max’s drone be made for real patients?
Max plans to apply for a patent, an official document that shows you have legal ownership of your invention, so he can make connections in the healthcare industry to make it a reality.
“I just want to keep getting better at it,” he said.
So far, he has spent the summer learning about artificial intelligence in the AI4ALL program at Stanford University in California as one of 32 children selected from around the world.
He will head next door to the University of Pennsylvania to take a college-level robotics class before returning to high school in September.
He’s also studying for his drone pilot’s license, so he can finally put his Christmas present to good use.
“After I get my license, I can get permits to fly it in great places like Banff,” Max said.
“Can’t wait to take some cool drone photos!”
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