A robotic arm controlled by the brain and computer software designed to make surgeries safer. These are the projects by two Virginia students that have made it to the finals of an elite science competition.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search is a competition described as the oldest science and math competition for high school seniors.
Benjamin Choi, 17, from The Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, and Pravalika Putalapattu, 17, from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia, are the two local seniors who made it into a group of 40 finalists chosen from more than 1,800 entries.
They will both get $25,000 for being finalists and will present their projects in D.C. from March 9 through 16, where they will compete for the top 10 awards that range from $40,000 to $250,000.
For his project, Choi wanted to make upper limb neuroprosthetics more accessible. They often require open brain surgery, which is risky and costs about half a million dollars, or more to produce.
“I invented a bionic arm that’s controlled by your brainwaves,” Choi said.
His solution only costs about $300 to make. Its installation is noninvasive, using electrodes placed on the scalp to pick up electrical signals from the brain.
“I wrote this AI algorithm that essentially translates those signals into ultimately trying to figure out what your thoughts are,” Choi said. “And I use those translated signals to control my bionic arm.”
Since she was a little girl, Putalapattu says her mom has been taking her to check out the finalists’ projects at the Regeneron competition.
Now, she gets to be a part of that elite group herself.
“That’s like always something I was looking forward to,” Putalapattu said.
The goal of her project?
“To help surgeons avoid mistakes during surgeries, particularly gallbladder removal procedures,” Putalapattu said.
It’s a software program that uses computer vision and machine learning to analyze live surgery videos, frame by frame.
“It uses a time series analysis to predict the surgical phase for the action that a surgeon is performing,” she said.
