Meet Mihir Garimella, a college student at Stanford University who is passionate about all things robotics. 
Garimella’s passion for robotics came from when he was just two years old and his parents brought home a pet robotic dog. This led to an infatuation and amazement with how technology could bring something so inanimate to life. Now a Sophomore at one of the country’s most prestigious universities, Mihir Garimella is using this passion to save lives.
FlyBot is a small, lightweight drone that can respond to threats almost instantly. This drone is designed to be flown into emergency situations (such as fires) to search for people in the building that first responders might not be able to see. The drone is aware of the surroundings and can detect obstructions while responding in real time. The idea of a quick responding flying object was not a completely original idea on Garimella’s part. The fruit fly has the same characteristics.
Mihir and his family were greeted after a family vacation to a home swarming with fruit flies after the family had left bananas on the counter. Mihir noticed the flies quick instincts and speedy escape routines and began to question how a creature with such terrible eyesight and little brains could possibly outwit a fly swatter. Thus began a process of learning about the fruit fly and their instinctive nature.
If Mihir Garimella was able to create a product through his curiosity of the common fruit fly, what type of products could we create from observations of the world around us? Garimella is an innovator and an entrepreneur combining his skills and passions to solve problems that compromise the safety of people all over the world. He has not let his age be a factor in his entrepreneurial endeavors by participating in competitions and using the resources available to him at Stanford.
I believe that Grove City students can learn from Mihir Garimella by observing the world around them, actively searching for problems, and using the skills and interests they have to develop products or services that can make the world a better place.
This Inspiring Teenager Wants to Save Lives With His Flying Robots. (2018, March 19). Retrieved from https://singularityhub.com/2017/08/25/this-inspiring-teenager-wants-to-save-lives-with-his-flying-robots/#sm.0001m2nbtu14xuetfuvaso3rrxsin
I always love seeing the ideation behind things! This story is particularly cool to see the inspiration coming from fruit flies! What ordinarily would be considered an annoying problem gave a boost of inspiration to Mihir.