Home Match at Jugend forscht

The national finals of Jugend forscht Bayern will become a home match for three of the participants: Victoria Haller, Franz Forster and Tim Treutinger attend the Maximilian-von-Montgelas Secondary School in Vilsbiburg which is almost within earshot of the Ball Sports Hall,  the venue of Jugend forscht.

As the sponsoring company and host, the DRÄXLMAIER Group has brought the finals to Vilsbiburg. "My aim was to get into the state competition if it took place in Vilsbiburg", says Victoria Haller from Vilsbiburg. The 17-year old is taking part for the fifth time. She made it into the state finals twice and in the end came second and third. Winning is not the most important issue for Victoria, but rather  the joy in research. "If I have an idea, I'm itching to turn it into something definite", said the pupil. For her, the fascination of Jugend forscht is contagious: "If you enjoy something, you keep on taking part."

Her research has long since become one of her favorite leisure activities. She has been working on her project "Glyphosate is doing its rounds – sludge loses excess fat" since last summer. In that project, the 17-year old analyzes how the sewage treatment plant in Vilsbiburg may be able to work more efficiently. Huge amounts of sludge occur when wastewater is treated. Her research shows that an additional catalytic cleaning stage can reduce the amount of sludge by up to 70 percent. In addition to that, residues of various substances, like Glyphosate, for example, can be eliminated from the wastewater even better.

Model car with automatic obstacle detection

Franz Forster, aged 17, from Adlkofen and Tim Treutinger, aged 18, from Geisenhausen, are taking part for the first time. The two twelfth grade pupils have been working meticulously on their project of developing an automatic pilot system with obstacle detection for one and half years. Thanks to GPS and ultra-sonic sensors, their model car navigates to its destination without any outside help, the vehicle cleverly evades any obstacles. Franz and Tim are enthusiastic model builders and built their driverless car all by themselves. They also made their own software. In the next project step, they plan to equip a hexacopter, which is a flying drone with six rotors, with that method. Because a hexacoptor moves faster than the model car, the ultra-sonic sensors will be replaced by a high-power laser sensor. According to Franz, that in turn will present the software of the flying object with the challenge of processing a huge amount of data.

"We knew where we had to start, but we also knew that it was an ambitious goal", said Tim. But in the end, completing the project was not the main thing, but rather to learn as much as possible. "It was more important for us to learn as much as possible", said Franz.

Jugend forscht: „A huge asset“

When Victoria, Franz and Tim present their work next week, they will not only have to count on support by their fellow pupils. Their families, friends and acquaintances have also been invited : The competition will be open to the public on Monday, 3rd April from 11 am to 5 pm and on Tuesday 4th April from 9 am to 11:30 am. A large number of friends have already announced they will come. "All the impressions, the exchange of ideas with the other researchers: That makes an event like this a huge asset", said Franz.