Close up of pre-teen friends in a park smiling to camera


America is evidently starting its next great engineering wizards young, as one 4th grade recently developed a touchless, motion-sensing robot that distributes hand sanitizer.

Ihsan Aydogdu, 9, created the device using only a Lego Mindstorm set, a sensor and two motors, reports KLTV in Tyler, Texas. While a teacher monitored the project, Aydogdu did his own work with some assistance from friends.

Aydogdu became inspired to create a robot that dispenses hand sanitizer during a visit to a hospital to meet his newborn sister. He said his mom had instructed him to not touch anything in the hospital due to COVID-19. It was at that point that Aydogdu thought of creating a machine that squirts hand sanitizer out without having to make contact with the device.

Aydogdu isn't the only kid to get creative during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last March, kids at a Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club pattered with a hospital to create thank you cards for the women and men who were cleaning the facility during the initial outbreak.