A 15-Year-Old Built an AI Robotic Turtle That Detects Underwater Threats With 96% Accuracy

Key Points:

• Fifteen-year-old Evan Budz developed BURT (Bionic Underwater Robotic Turtle), an autonomous AI-powered robot modeled on green sea turtle swimming mechanics to scan aquatic environments for ecological threats.
• BURT uses flipper-like propulsion to minimize disturbance, weighs 11 pounds with neutral buoyancy, operates up to eight hours on battery power, and incorporates sensors for navigation, obstacle detection, and data transmission.
• Testing included a backyard pool with simulated coral reefs and Lake Ontario, where BURT demonstrated 96% accuracy in detecting coral bleaching and was enhanced with lights, ultrasonic transducers, and holographic imaging to identify microplastics.
• Budz won first prize at the 2025 European Union Contest for Young Scientists and previously earned top innovation honors at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, highlighting his commitment to environmentally friendly underwater monitoring technology.
• His long-term goal is to deploy fleets of these robots to monitor various aquatic threats like coral bleaching, invasive species, and microplastics, advancing non-invasive ecological data collection.