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Friday, July 12, 2024
Vol. 84, No. 28
SERVING PLAINVIEW, HICKSVILLE, AND LEVITTOWN
Hundreds of children attend BHS freshman celebrated pool safety seminar for robotics project
The Town of Oyster Bay joined with officials from Catholic Health to host a pool and summer safety seminar. The Town of Oyster Bay joined with Catholic Health to host a Pool and Summer Safety Seminar at Marjorie Post Community Park recently. In recent years, fatal drownings for children under the age of 15 has increased by 12 percent, with drowning remaining the leading cause of death
among children ages 1 to 4 years old. Additionally, children under the age of 5 make up nearly 80 percent of all nonfatal drowning injuries each year. “We all know that summer is time for fun in the sun and cooling off in the pool. However, that fun comes with a great deal of responsibility. That’s why
we hosted this Summer Safety Day in the Town of Oyster Bay,” said Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino. “We thank St. Joseph Hospital and Catholic Health for partnering with us to host this important program and bringing pool safety awareness to hundreds of youngsters.”
The Mid-Island Times & Levittown Times is Published every Friday by Litmor Publishing Corp. Periodical Postage paid at Hicksville, N.Y. 11801 Tel 931-0012. USPS 3467-68 Postmaster: Send Address Changes to: The Mid Island & Levittown Times 821 Franklin Ave., Suite 208, Garden City, N.Y. 11530. Meg Norris Publisher
Bethpage High School recently celebrated the outstanding achievements of freshman research student Partap Sidhu. This year, Sidhu’s project in Science Research 1 was titled “Revolutionizing Waste Management: A Machine Learning and Computer Vision Enabled Robot Arm for Efficient Garbage Recycling.” Through this innovative project, Sidhu developed a cost-effective robotic arm for just $273, significantly more affordable than other market alternatives. Sidhu addressed the pressing issue of waste management in his project description: “By 2050, it is estimated that 33 billion tons of plastic waste will exist on Earth, overshadowing the Empire State Building by 105,000 times. Since 1960, the recycling rate has increased by less than 7%, while discarded waste has surged by over 811%. When materials like paper, plastic, glass, and metal are not recycled, they end up in landfills, occupying space and contributing to environmental pollution. Last year, the United States had only a 30% recycling rate, highlighting
the urgent need for intervention. Current recycling methods, such as manual sorting, are inaccurate, and robotic systems are often unaffordable. This project aims to address this escalating problem by designing and developing a cost-efficient robotic arm that can sort and recycle garbage using machine learning and computer vision.” Using the meta-operating system ROS Noetic and Move!t, Sidhu built and trained his robotic arm, achieving a remarkable 98% accuracy in garbage sorting. Sidhu’s journey began last year at JFK Middle School, where he created an animatronic hand using C++ and Python, which laid the foundation for his current project and taught him valuable 3D modeling skills. Earlier this year, Sidhu won first place in the Robotics and Intelligent Machines category at the New York State Science and Engineering Fair (NYSSEF), earning a bid to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles this past See page 11
Lazy Days of Summer event planned for July 13th The Levittown Community Council's 27th Annual Lazy Days of Summer event is planned for Saturday, July 13th from 11:30 am to 3 pm at the East Village Green Park, Jerusalem Ave., Levittown. The event will feature pony rides, a petting zoo, relay races, crafts and
games. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to bring non-perishable canned goods and toiletries, to be collected for those in need. For more information please contact Louise Cassano at 516-735-5901 or email levittowncouncil@yahoo.com
Boys and Girls Club Scholarships PAGE 6 National Night Out August 6th PAGE 4