Author Archives: Amanda Nguyen

Eco Flare: What is Azimuth?

Understanding Azimuth is crucial to our ability to manage vegetation and stop wildfires. Azimuth is simply the angle, expressed in degrees ranging from 0° to 360°, between a fixed point (often true north) and the direction you are observing. It indicates the direction that an object is facing. When examining landscapes, it is particularly crucialContinue reading “Eco Flare: What is Azimuth?”

Eco Flare: Ready for takeoff

This is the second post in my series about Eco Flare, a wildfire-detection drone I’m working on to help detect hotspots before fire starts. If you haven’t read the first post yet, you can check it out here. This week, I focused on getting organized. There are a lot of work components to this project—research,Continue reading “Eco Flare: Ready for takeoff”

Eco Flare: A drone to prevent wildfires

Hey! I’m Annika Jain, an incoming junior in high school, and I’m working on building a drone that could help stop wildfires before they even begin. It’s called Eco Flare, a compact, smart drone designed to fly over forested areas, scan for trees growing too close to power lines, and send alerts before sparks flyContinue reading “Eco Flare: A drone to prevent wildfires”

Silicon Valley’s Code Hobbits visits Makeblock to learn how to build tech products

Repost from https://www.makeblock.com/blogs/ideas/silicon-valley-s-code-hobbits-visit-makeblock-to-learn-how-to-build-tech-products “My first trip to Shenzhen was incredible. My first visit to Makeblock was amazing and a great experience. When I went there, I got to check out all of the cool products at coding robot company Makeblock and even got to build my own robot. That was the most fun in myContinue reading “Silicon Valley’s Code Hobbits visits Makeblock to learn how to build tech products”

Anish Govind (12th grade) develops a smart door sign for remote learners

During COVID, Anish found himself being interrupted by his family while he was in a zoom class. To minimize unintentional disruptions, he developed a smart door sign that integrated with his school calendar and displayed if he was in a class and if so, which class he was taking.

Vandana Chari (10th grade) wins Coder Girls International Video Competition

Vandana Chari, a Rising Stars student, wins Code Girls International Video Competition for her product Spectune! Spectune is a high-tech programmable LED violin bow that creates visual feedback for the musician, making it easier for them to emphasize certain notes and soften others, thereby making the piece more enjoyable. Vandana holds a provisional patent forContinue reading “Vandana Chari (10th grade) wins Coder Girls International Video Competition”

Ariv Gupta (8th grade) develops Project: Shine

Rising Stars student Ariv Gupta (8th grade) developed Project:Shine, a smart, programmable t-shirt for kids. Below is the excerpt of his interview about how he plans to bring his product to market. Jack: Why did you decide to go to the Code Hobbits Expeditions Shenzhen program?Ariv: I decided to go to Shenzhen to learn aboutContinue reading “Ariv Gupta (8th grade) develops Project: Shine”