Grade 12 student wins inaugural robotics award, builds app to help unhoused Torontonians

Nathan Yizhou Han, a Grade 12 student, won the inaugural Robot Intelligence Award at the VEX AI World Championship at UC Berkeley, competing against 51 teams worldwide. The award recognized VEX Robotics Team 16610A Level 5's autonomous robot for capabilities in perception, decision-making, path planning, localization and multi-robot coordination that didn't fit existing award categories.

Han is now building an AI-powered website and app designed to help people experiencing homelessness find food, shelter, water, washrooms and other support services. The first draft launches in October, with Toronto as the test city before expanding across Canada.

Han's inspiration came from watching crowds celebrate the FIFA World Cup finals at Toronto City Hall while people experiencing homelessness sat nearby on another street. "I watched the finals around City Hall. There were a lot of people who were celebrating this large event. However, just beside on another street, there were a lot of people who were lying on the street," Han said. "I needed to do something and use my knowledge to help them."

The Salvation Army operates six Toronto shelters serving people experiencing homelessness, providing food, shelter, clothing, pastoral care, addiction counselling and housing help. A Toronto-based nonprofit called Ample Labs launched Chalmers, an AI-powered chatbot in partnership with Ada, to serve the homeless community. Han's app will offer a different entry point to existing services.