It is the year 2030. You are the Chief Park Ranger in Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve in Sumatra – the last refuge of the Sumatran tiger. Fires continue to be a threat to the rainforest. You observe that the animals of the rainforest are always alert to their environment. What if you invented a robot that mimics some of these animals’ traits to give you an early warning of forest fires?
What you need to do:
- Find out more about the rainforest and how forest fires start.
- Learn about the animals of the rainforest. What qualities about them would be useful to quickly detect a forest fire? How will you incorporate these qualities into your robot?
- On a piece of A4 paper, draw an annotated diagram of your robot and include a short paragraph to explain which animals’ traits your robot mimics, and how your robot can quickly detect and alert you to a forest fire.
- Then, submit your work to us by 2 May 2017. You can either scan a copy of your work and email it as an attachment to ourcontest@whatsup.sg or mail your hardcopy by regular post to our office (our office address is on page 24).
- Be sure to include your full name, class and school in your submission.
- The five best entries will win an orang utan soft toy each, courtesy of WWF.
