Boys' coral reef technology attracts the interest of Nasa

Two British schoolboys whose new climate technology had Nasa knocking on their door have described the “overwhelming” feeling of seeing their invention used around the world.

- ALEX CROFT

Thenuk Rodrigo and Simba Shi, both 17-year-old Eton College pupils, co-founded environmental start-up ReefSound last summer, aiming to use AI analysis of sound recordings to transform coral reef protection methods.

Little over a year later, the start-up attracted the interest of Nasa officials and is being drafted in by conservation organisations for use in seven countries.

Speaking to The Independent, Thenuk and Simba recalled the “really incredible” moment an employee at Space Center Houston approached the team – which also includes 17-year-old Chinese student Bonnie Liu – to ask to license the remotecontrolled underwater vehicle (ROV), which navigates and diagnoses coral reefs.

Although Space Center Houston did not follow through with the deal, Thenuk said it was “really incredible to see some sort of interest from the first place”.

Working late into the night after school, the team produced an AI model to assess sound recordings from the coral reef, claiming to be 60 per cent cheaper and five times more efficient than current manual diver surveys and satellite image analysis methods.