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Folsom High senior’s innovative creation wins congressional app contest
Matthew Merrill is turning his passion for technology into innovative projects that have earned him accolades all summer in local competitions.
The latest honor for the 16-year-old senior at Folsom High School: Matthew is a winner in a congressional STEM education competition – the “House App Contest,” sponsored by Rep. Ami Bera – that challenged youths to develop unique software applications.
Matthew’s winning app works like this: He takes a photo on his mobile device, then sends the picture through the app over Wi-Fi to a robotic drawing machine. That machine – which Matthew also built – slowly comes to life, replicating the photo on a canvas line by line.
Watch the video above to see this amazing creation!
It’s a project that observers say would challenge engineering students with years of college behind them. Matthew, in the meantime, has learned to code in his spare time.