What inspired you to enter the YMIC?
A Rockwell Automation mentor for my robotics team, Nicolet FEAR, FRC team 4786, encouraged all of us to enter the You Make It Challenge. I wanted to enter my machine learning and IoT program idea in the hopes that I can advance my idea and help people all across America be more prepared for house flooding. My sump pump unexpectedly overflowed last summer, so I created this product as a solution.
What's your favorite subject, and how did it inspire your idea?
I love mathematics and wanted to incorporate that into a real-world solution. Both programming and machine learning have mathematics at their core. I thought it would be interesting to approach the problem of sump pump overflow prediction from a new mathematical way, using the ratio of running time to resting time.
How do you feel being in the Top 3?
I am so grateful for this opportunity to work with a Rockwell mentor on my idea. I enjoy making and I’m excited to see ideas come together. I was personally impacted by home flooding due to sump pump overflow and want to ensure that my solution will be accessible to anyone who wants to monitor their sump pump’s activity and predict floods before they happen.
Tell us one thing about you that everyone should know.
I am a member of FIRST Robotics Competition team 4786, Nicolet FEAR. Programming the robot is what helped me learn Java and I love how I am still learning in my third year on the team. If it weren’t for Nicolet FEAR I wouldn’t have known about this competition and I wouldn’t have had many of the great STEM experiences and opportunities that come with building and competing with a robot.