CityBots Lego Team Develops Herndon Air Quality Monitor

According to a recent article in the Washington Business Journal, Herndon will experience an unprecedented amount of high-density development around the new Silver Line Herndon Metro Station. Unfortunately, there are no local official air quality monitors in the Herndon area to monitor the effect of this explosive growth. The closest official monitors are located in Ashburn and Alexandria, Virginia.

As a result of this lack of official monitors, CityBots, a Herndon-based First Lego League team, is proposing the establishment of local air quality measurement stations at various locations in and around the new Silver Line development complex. The CityBots team is inspired by the new City Shaper First Lego League initiative to develop an eco-friendly innovation to improve a building or public space.

The team has collaborated with local air quality experts to design and prototype an air quality monitor which can measure and report local Carbon monoxide, Ammonia, Sulfide, Benzene, Butane, Propane, Methane, gasoline, Smoke, alcohol and dust contaminants. The air quality measuring device, which the team affectionately named “Air Bender,” consists of several air collectors and sensors connected to a processor. The processor runs the coding logic to analyze air samples.

The CityBots team is proposing that these air quality monitors be deployed across the Herndon Metro Area to report air quality in real time. This data system can be used for many applications, for example, providing local air quality updates that commuters, with health issues, can use to manage their commute times. Other possible applications are managing local traffic signals to minimize air pollution caused by local traffic congestion. The CityBots team will compete in a local robotics competition in November, where they will present their research.