Saskatoon teen recognized for her search and rescue robot [Video]

A Saskatoon high school student has been honoured with a national award for creating a diving robot that uses artificial intelligence to aid in search and rescue missions underwater.

Yurui Qin said the idea for her award-winning robot started with a school project.

“This robot came from a current event assignment that I actually had in a history class a while back in September,” Qin told CTV News.

The 16-year-old came across a number of articles about flooding. That’s when she decided to help those impacted by the most common natural disaster in the world.

“I was looking at search and rescue methods that we have nowadays. A lot of them just basically use human labour, which is a massive problem because waters can become contaminated and search and rescuers themselves can be endangered, as well as the victims,” she said.

She said the ‘AI-QUA Savior’ moves on its own …