Irish students have performed well at the International Science and Engineering Fair in the US, writes Emmet Oliver
Two Irish students have won a major prize at one of the most prestigious science and engineering fairs in the world - with a project that seeks to stop birds fouling some of our finest buildings and statues.
Another team, from the Institute of Education in Dublin, also got a healthy response for its project, which discovered that the Rubik's Cube could be solved in 20 moves, compared to the previous record of 50.
Electricity companies have tried for many years to find a solution to birds perching on overhead wires and defecating on people and property below. Various solutions have been tried, including audio and strobe lighting, but the stubborn pigeons, starlings, blackbirds and magpies have managed to overcome them.
However, 19-year-old students Brendan Quinn and Enda Young, both former pupils of St Patrick's College in Maghera in Co Derry, have devised a new approach. Last week, their solution scooped the best of category award at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Louisville, Kentucky.
The fair, sponsored by Intel, is regarded in the US and elsewhere as a highly prestigious competition, with more than 40 countries sending representatives. The Derry students won $8,000 and, on top of the main award, collected two smaller prizes, one of which is a chance to go to the Expo Science Europe competition in Bratislava, Slovakia, in July. They also got to appear on the Good Morning America TV show.
Such a successful few days brought a smile to their teacher Kieran McGeown's face because he originally encouraged the two young men to find a solution to this somewhat unedifying problem.
Their project was motivated by the fact that bird fouling not only has an aesthetic impact on buildings, but also has serious implications in terms of physical damage and health risks.
The corrosive effect of uric acid on surfaces and the presence of pathogenic bacteria pose a serious health risk to humans, the students found. A fresh approach to the problem was needed, preferably a physical device to deter the birds from perching on overhead wires, particularly those situated near significant public buildings and statues.
Having developed several prototypes, the students, who are now studying at Queens University Belfast, found the most effective was the self-sustained induction deferrer (SID). This robotic device moves along overhead power lines via motor- powered rollers. It can detect the end of the wire and reverse direction.
Put simply, birds are unable to perch on the wires because the device continues to disturb them. But what makes the device extra useful is that the students randomised its movement so it goes left and right in no particular pattern and thus proves an unpredictable adversary for the birds. "They don't know where it is going to go next, and birds like a stable environment, so this makes sure they don't have that," says Quinn.
One of their biggest problems was trying to find a power source for the device, which is shaped like a rugby ball and weighs about 2.5 kilograms. They eventually found a way to take power from the line via a current transformer.
The rugby-ball shape means birds find it difficult to grip the device and this prevents them from sitting on top while their fellow birds are sent packing. The students say that, if required, spikes could be placed on the top to make doubly sure the birds are warded off.
A Chicago-based firm, Bird-X, has already spoken to the two students about some kind of deal and Northern Ireland Electricity are also committed to testing it out. At an approximate cost of €80 per unit, it could be economical for firms to use the device in certain sensitive areas, particularly beside prestigious buildings.
The other project about the Rubik's Cube was in the maths area and was entitled 'The Solution to God's Algorithm'. Fifth-year student Ciaran McNamee says that, initially,he and the other two students, Louise Sullivan and Edward Naughten, researched several different lines, each in a different area of maths, before settling on a logical proof based on the intersection of planes in three dimensions.
They managed to show that for a cube of "n" blocks per side, where movement was permitted in a single plane only, the cube could always be solved in "n-1" moves.