LOS ANGELES, Calif. — More than two years ago, Russia launched a takeover attempt against neighboring Ukraine. Volodymyr Borysenko wanted to help his country defend itself in the invasion that followed. The rising 12th grader attends Cherkasy School Number 28 in Ukraine. He has just developed software that simulates battles in a new way. He hopes it can one day improve how Ukraine’s troops and commanders train and plan their ground maneuvers.
Volodymyr, 17, was a finalist at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). It’s a program of the Society for Science. (The Society also publishes this magazine). For his work, the teen earned a full scholarship from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. He also took home a $400 prize.
Why focus his coding on war tactics? “I want to help the Ukrainian military because they have problems on the front lines,” Volodymyr explains. When it comes to ground conflict, he says, “I heard from them that we lack strategic planning.”
Currently, he says, the military relies on two battle-simulation programs. One of them doesn’t account for sites where ground troops can take a breather to recover. The other ignores battlefield robotics.
To fill in such gaps, Volodymyr’s software includes the activities of flying drones. It also adds landscape features. These include such things as rivers, tree cover and shelters used by troops.
His research goal: “to minimize losses among [our] military.”
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Simulating battles
The teen has been programming computers since seventh grade. Over the past few years, he…
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