As droughts become more frequent across the world, a 13-year-old student from Oregon has come up with an invention that could help farmers produce water from the air itself.
Roy Kim, a student at Whitford Middle School in Beaverton, has designed a chamber that extracts moisture from the atmosphere and converts it into water for irrigation. His innovation has earned him a place among the top 10 national finalists of the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
HOW THE DEVICE WORKS
Roy’s invention uses a Peltier module, a device that creates a temperature difference when electricity is applied. One side becomes hot while the other turns cold, allowing moisture in warm air to condense into water droplets.
Air first enters the chamber, where it is warmed before being pushed toward the cooled surface by a fan. The condensed water is collected through a funnel and delivered to plants using a valve.
The system also includes soil moisture, temperature and humidity sensors. These automatically adjust airflow and decide when plants actually need watering, preventing unnecessary water use.
SMALL DEVICE, BIG GOAL
During testing, the prototype produced 10 millilitres of water in two hours, with a peak efficiency of 135.8 grams per kilowatt-hour.
Roy developed the project to address one of agriculture’s biggest challenges: shrinking freshwater resources. Farmers in many regions continue to depend on rainfall, groundwater and rivers, all of which are becoming increasingly unreliable due to climate change.
A YOUNG INVENTOR WITH BIG PLANS
The 3M Young Scientist Challenge, organised by 3M and Discovery Education, is open to students in Grades 5 to 8 studying at schools across the US. It encourages participants to use science and engineering to solve real-world problems.
Roy hopes his invention will inspire wider adoption of sustainable farming technologies. He also plans to pursue engineering in the future, focusing on environmental solutions that tackle global challenges such as water scarcity and climate change.
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