Ann Arbor’s own Sanat Pandit has made headlines at such a young age. The sixth-grader recently earned his place as one of the 30 finalists of the Society for Science’s 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. His innovation was chosen from the top 300 Junior Innovators. Pandit invented a $300 firefighting drone that extinguishes fires without putting people in harm’s way.
Titled “Project Soteria: A Low-Cost Fire Mitigating UAV Implemented Through Stereovision, Sonar and Path Planning Algorithms”, Pandit’s invention began as a science fair project. He designed an automatic firefighting drone that identifies hot spots via thermal imaging, sonar and a path-planning algorithm. The unmanned aerial vehicle also uses a custom water launcher to spray a stream of water over active blazes. Pandit conducted outdoor and indoor tests, in which his prototype extinguished 18 out of 20 outdoor candle fires.
How does the drone work?
In his own words, Pandit’s drone prototype first identifies the hottest temperature point in a fire using two thermal cameras. Once the exact distance to this point has been determined, Pandit’s custom 3-D printed water launcher uses a servo to spray water at the precise angle required to extinguish the blaze. Pandit’s Project Soteria—like its namesake, a Greek goddess signifying safety and preservation—aims to serve a noble purpose, to help firefighters rescue lives, in a safer and more affordable way.
The inspiration behind the invention
Pandit’s motive for his invention is very personal, as his aunt and cousins were affected by the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires . Wildfires are devastating catastrophes which leave hundreds of thousands of people homeless every year. The 2025 wildfires in LA, in particular, resulted property destruction worth over $250 million, in addition to displacing over 100,000 people. Another mind boggling statistic is that each firefighter extinguishes over 5 football fields of fire. Seeing, first hand, how people were impacted by the fires, and what firefighters were dealing with on a daily basis, gave Pandit a deep understanding of the issue at hand. He realized the dire nature of the crisis situations firefighters face every day. His drone prototype was a response to his search for a safer and more affordable way to combat fires.
Fun facts about the young inventor
Although Pandit has already made a name for himself with his prototype, he is also just a regular sixth-grader attending Greenhills School in Ann Arbor. Pandit dreams of becoming an aerospace engineer, and says that his older brother, a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, is his inspiration. His favorite subjects in school are math and science, and he is a proud member of the Robotics Club and Model Rocketry Club.
“Nothing beats the thrill of launching a rocket from scratch,” Pandit said…