A student from Sarla Birla Public School here made a model dustbin with artificial intelligence that rewards users with cash credited to their bank accounts.

No wonder the Ranchi school aced Connectech, dubbed a ‘technical bonanza’ here on Monday, beating some of the best young minds from across Jharkhand.

Over 500 science students from some of the top schools of Jharkhand took part in the event. The schools included Oxford Public School, Cambrian Public School, St Xaviers College (Plus Two section), Jawahar Vidya Mandir, DAV Public School (Bariatu), Surendranath Centenary School, Central Academy, Marwari High School, St. Jagat Gyan Senior Secondary Public School, Nirmala Convent School, Vidya Vikas Public School (all Ranchi), Guru Gobind Singh Public School (Bokaro) and Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Senior Secondary School (Dhanbad), besides others.

Connectech, organised by the state department of higher, technical education and skill development, Jharkhand Council on Science, Technology and Innovation in association with University of Engineering and Management (UEM), Jaipur, was held at the Science Centre in Chiroundi.

Sarla Birla Public School won three of the four contests of the bonanza — Nirman (a science model making competition), pythagoras star (maths aptitude test for Classes IX and X) and pythagoras pro (a maths aptitude test for Classes XI and XII).

Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Bokaro, emerged runner-up by winning Techart, a technical drawing contest.

Graphics content creator and digital marketing executive of UEM, Jaipur, Saurav Mookherji, who co-ordinated the event, said the model of Sarla Birla Public School was the best.

“We were actually very impressed that school students showed how AI can help create awareness for cleanliness. Pranjal Adarsh Upadhyay designed a dustbin with AI that would credit cash in the account of anyone who dumped trash in the bin,” Mookherji said.

Asked about the maths aptitude tests, Mookherji said the sets of questions of star and pro categories had different levels of difficulty.

The event is being organised for the last three years. “The purpose of the event is to generate interest among students in science at a deeper level and pave for them the path to research and innovation,” he said.