Keelan Boyle ’24, Robotics Engineering, Environmental and Sustainability Studies
For Keelan Boyle ’24, pursuing a project-enriched Environmental and Sustainability Studies degree unlocked a passion to use his other degree, in Robotics Engineering, to tackle the world’s great problems.
“Environmentalism is more than just preserving outdoor spaces,” Boyle said. “It’s more of looking at social problems, not just technology problems.”
Boyle worked with Robert Krueger, professor and department head of Social Science and Policy Studies, to develop drone-based mapping technology that could identify abandoned gold mines in Ghana. The small-scale mines often expose workers and nearby residents to mercury, a highly toxic industrial byproduct of the mining process. He helped design a drone that used computer vision and mapping algorithms to identify the mines through heavy tree cover by “stitching” images together. Ongoing projects out of the Development Design Lab are looking to identify ways to use plants like bamboo to reclaim those sites by naturally removing mercury from the soil and providing a sustainable fuel source.
Boyle said learning about the artisanal mining industry from people with lived experience helped put his goals for the project in context. There are complicated issues at play, he said.
“They know this type of mining is bad for them,” he said, “but they need to do it because it’s often the only source of good income they have.”
Boyle also developed BranchBot, a “robotic beehive” drone capable of landing on tree branches and pollinating flowers to offset bee colony collapses. He said the team created the drone from scratch, drawing inspiration from how birds latch onto branches.
As he begins his career journey, Boyle said the sense of using technology for social good he learned in Social Science and Policy Studies at WPI will come along with him.
“Environmental protection and sustainability is a topic that is very important to me,” Boyle said. “It’s something I want to continue to fight for.”