2017 State Finals | K-12 InVenture Prize
Elementary Division
Illumination Gloves
1st Place
Students | Jack Cowan, Thomas Wall, and Alex Whiteside
Teacher | Kirsten Perla and Brandye Keasler
Due West Elementary School | Cobb County
Our product is a glove with LED lights on the top, the fingers, and the outsides of your palm. It has reflective tape on the fingers. The material is warm so you can use it in the winter. Also, the fingers are touchscreen and you can still operate your phone. The battery pack is in the bottom and you can turn it off and on while running. Our product is different from other light up gloves that have lights on the finger tips, because our gloves have lights on the front back and fingers so you can see what’s in front of you. The reason why we chose to do a glove instead of a vest is because vests direct light in many different ways but gloves direct light in front of the runner.
QR Collar
2nd Place
Students | Jack Frishmann and Joseph Bamert
Teacher | Cassie Llewallyn
Pickett's Mill Elementary School | Cobb County
This invention is a QR code that is made to fit on a collar for a cat or a dog. The collar is bright and reflective, for easy visibility, and the QR code is easy to scan for anyone with a QR scanner. When the code is scanned; animal information (name, owner's name, phone number, address, vaccinations, record, breed, and picture) will immediately be available. This information is easily accessible so owners can be contacted and located morning, day, or night.
Team Switcheroo: 5nap
3rd Place
Students | Hayden Menezes and Sean Ray
Teacher | Shannon Reagan
Timber Ridge Elementary School | Cobb County
The product developed is an interchangeable sole for sporting shoes. The soles snap in and out of the shoe so you can utilize different cleats and bottoms for various sports.
Middle Division
The Locker Hammock
1st Place
Students | Katie Barry, Olivia Quern, and Esther Ofielu
Teacher | Kathleen Lanman
JC Booth Middle School | Fayette County
The Locker Hammock is a functional redesign of the ordinary locker shelf. During my three years of middle school, many of my classmates and I faced a problem: we could not find a locker shelf that would fit into our lockers. The only locker shelves available were poor quality, expensive, and fell apart easily. Like all engineers, I decided to create something that would fit my needs. When designing my product, I had to try many different things. My design went from magnets and plexiglass to suction cups and fabric. Fabric gives it the flexibility to fit neatly in any locker and the suctions cups attach it firmly to the sides. Through product testing and user feedback, I was able to overcome all design challenges.
Weight Warrior
2nd Place
Students | Peyton Bedgood and Elise Gildea
Teacher | Faye Yost
Griffin Middle School | Cobb County
Weight Warrior is an exercise accessory that can be worn while doing your daily workout. Weight Warrior is a sleeve that can be worn on your forearms or calves. The sleeve will be slim and would be able to be worn underneath clothes. Each sleeve will have several zippered pockets where you can insert and remove different weights. The weights will be made of gel packs and will weigh various amounts. The purpose of the Weight Warrior is to enhance a person’s workout routine by adding weight so they are building up or toning their muscles as they perform a cardio type exercise. The sleeve will be made of a flexible material called neoprene which is also used in wetsuits and car seat covers. The sizes of the sleeves are small, medium, large and extra-large and, the weight of the gel packs will vary also.
Let’s Deet This
3rd Place
Students | Gracie Weldon, Johanna Nelson, and Raaga Bramhadevi
Teacher | Kathleen Lanman
JC Booth Middle School | Fayette County
Our invention, Let’s Deet This, is a bug-repelling laundry detergent that goes on your clothes, along with a portable washing machine. In malaria-prone parts of the world, keeping mosquitos away is essential. Let’s Deet This can be used on clothes or even on mosquito netting for an added layer of protection. Additionally, Let’s Deet This is the perfect invention for campers, as they can bring the washer and wash their clothes on the trip. This allows users to avoid the hassle of bug spray. The ingredients in our laundry detergent are all safe for the environment: deet, laundry detergent, and lemon eucalyptus oil. The cross of these substances provides the perfect bug repellent with an appealing aroma. Our research shows that consumers find our product easy to use and beneficial. We believe Let’s Deet This can change the world.
High Division
Oil Spill Cleanup Improvement
1st Place
Students | Evan Smith
Teacher | John Brock
North Forsyth High School | Forsyth County
This presentation discusses the atrocities of ocean oil spills and proposes a solution that will aid in the cleanup and limit environmental damage. It reports the general statistics of accidental oil spills and the organizations currently tasked with cleanup. The presentation then reveals effects on humans in Louisiana, USA, and the impacts on marine ecosystems. Several current cleanup methods are presented, then the use of basalt as the future of oil cleanup is explained. The idea for a prototype basalt filtration system being used for cleanup first on a small scale; i.e., shops (mechanics), streams, ponds, then moving onto lakes and oceans is then presented. To conclude, the manufacturing process is described with cost effective materials that will be used to make the filter.
Head-Safe Headphones
2nd Place
Students | Aja Weary
Teacher | Dametria Williams
Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology | Rockdale County
Millions of people around the world come together at different times of the year and gather around to see and hear a captivating spectacle to bring in new times, or celebrate past ones. Considering this, people with a fear of that type of noise cannot escape. Panic attacks may occur, and a panicked individual will seek shelter on a day that is supposed to be happy and full of celebration. In order to help reduce the feeling of panic, and in an individual that fears sound, they themselves may cover their ears or try to listen to incredibly loud music when they are in the presence of loud noise and cannot avoid them. Ear plugs may help reduce the shock of nearby noise however there is presently nothing strong enough in the market that is targeted specifically to loud sudden noise. In order to help alieve the situation, this product is intended to assist those that fear loud noise by blocking as much sound out from the headphones through a higher NRR rating than most generally protective headphones and to enable the user to be calm by allowing them to listen to their own music whilst wearing the headphones.
Pacer Sonix
3rd Place
Students | Michal Szurek, Rubin Park, and Paul Matesevac
Teacher | William Daly
Collins Hill High School | Gwinnett County
The Pacer Sonix provides an ultrasonic method for charging internal pacemaker batteries. Due to the nature of the hermetically sealed system, pacemakers do not have interchangeable batteries and require surgical replacement approximately every 6 years. There has yet to be an effective solution to forego surgery and the proposed methods are either dangerous or costly. The Pacer Sonix utilizes piezoelectric energy transfer to slowly charge up internal capacitors to prolong the life of a pacemaker. An external component transmits amplified ultrasonic waves and is received via an ultrasonic piezoelectric transducer within the pacemaker and is rectified for use within the system. Intended to be used in an individual's sleep, the Pacer Sonix will not interfere with everyday life while still providing all the benefits.
Specialty Awards
Xtendlet
IronCAD Award
Students | Ashton Mobley, Mohammed-Faiz Khan, and Thomas Bryan
Teacher | Monica Reckley
Flat Rock Middle School | Fayette County
Have you ever been vacuuming and the plug continuously comes out? Ever imagine how much you can save on an electrician if you did not have to have so many wall sockets in a room? The Xtendlet will save you time, stress, and money! The Xtendlet will help many people in the world by lowering the cost of housing and by saving time vacuuming or using any other household appliance with a cord that plugs into a wall. Other possible uses include outside yard work, holiday displays, and any project where an extension cord would have previously been used. The Xtendlet cord can retract out and back into the wall outlet. The cord can expand to a distance of 25 feet and will reduce the number of outlets necessary in a home. Xtendlet could also reduce building costs because of the reduced amount of electrical wires.The Xtendlet could reduce monthly cash flow while saving time unplugging/plugging items. Xtendlet is the new household technology that should be in all homes!
Illumination Gloves
TAG Manufacturing Award
Students | Jack Cowan, Thomas Wall, and Alex Whiteside
Teacher | Kirsten Perla
Due West Elementary School | Cobb County
Our product is a glove with LED lights on the top, the fingers, and the outsides of your palm. It has reflective tape on the fingers. The material is warm so you can use it in the winter. Also, the fingers are touchscreen and you can still operate your phone. The battery pack is in the bottom and you can turn it off and on while running. Our product is different from other light up gloves that have lights on the finger tips, because our gloves have lights on the front back and fingers so you can see what’s in front of you. The reason why we chose to do a glove instead of a vest is because vests direct light in many different ways but gloves direct light in front of the runner.
Shoe Clipz
People's Choice Award
Students | Zoe Chow, Wyatt Frazier, and Angelina Villamar
Teacher | Nikki Brooks
Bullard Elementary School | Cobb County
Shoe Clipz keeps your shoes tied by preventing the knot from moving around.
Training Skateboard
Youngest Participant Award
Students | Mya Boucher and Johnathan Henderson
Teacher | Tiffany Grant
The SAE School | Cobb County
When kids learning to ride a skateboard, it can be difficult for them to slow down or stop. Our invention is for boys and girls who like skateboarding, but don’t want to fall when they stop. The Training Skateboard is skateboard with two handles. There are two brake pads on the back and the front. When you step on a disc connected to the rubber brake pad by a screw, the brake goes down. The friction causes the skateboard to slow down. We added the handles so you don’t fly off. Newton’s 1st law states if an object is in motion, it will remain in motion. The friction will only cause the skateboard to stop, but the skateboarder would still remain in motion. With the handles there, the skateboarder has something to stop them.
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State Finals Spotlights
Christopher Klaus
Keynote Speaker
Klaus is the founder and CEO of Kaneva, delivering 3D virtual worlds, and is a founder and partner in the CyberLaunch startup accelerator which focuses on security and machine learning startups. Prior to founding Kaneva, Klaus founded and served as CTO of Internet Security Systems Inc. (ISS), a company he created in 1994, took public in 1998, and was acquired by IBM in 2006 for over $1.9 Billion. With a B.
Amanda Baskett
Founding Teacher, Presenter
Amanda had the idea of bringing the excitement of InVenture to Georgia high school classrooms about 5 years ago now, and none of this would have happened without her energy and her ideas.
Cameron Schriner
IronCAD Representative
IronCAD is a proud partner with K-12 InVenture Prize and sponsor of IronCAD software to participating K-12 InVenture Prize teachers and students over the course of the year. IronCAD also sponsors the IronCAD Award, which is awarded to the top team using IronCAD in their design and prototyping.
Dean Hettenbach
TAG Manufacturing Representative
TAG Manufacturing is a proud partner with K-12 InVenture Prize and sponsor of the TAG Manufacturing Specialty Award.
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2017 U.S. Nationals | National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo
Elementary School Division
Illumination Gloves
Thomas Wall and Alex Whiteside, Grade 5
QR Collar
Jack Frishmann and Joseph Bamert, Grade 5
Team Switcheroo: 5nap
Hayden Menezes, Sean Ray, and Trey Trotti, Grade 5
Middle School Division
The Locker Hammock
Katie Barry, Grade 8
1st Place in 7-8th Grade Category
Best Log Book Award
Household Organization Industry Award
Most Innovator Award
Weight Warrior
Peyton Bedgood and Elise Gildea, Grade 6
Let's Deet This
Gracie Weldon and Johanna Nelson, Grade 8
High School Division
Head-Safe Headphones
Aja Weary, Grade 12
1st Place 9-12 Grade Category
Oil Spill Cleanup Improvement
Evan Smith, Grade 11
Earth and Geoscience Award
Pacer Sonix
Michal Szurek and Rubin Park, Grade 11 and 12
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