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ENTRY CATEGORIES

Our Challenge to You...

 

Through this contest, we are aiming to not only invent to improve technology, but invent to change the world. Thomas Edison was a humanitarian - He did not invent to make money...he made money to invent! Edison had a unique way of linking technological progress to society's well being. He once said:

“My desire is to do everything within my power to free people from

drudgery and create the largest measure of happiness and prosperity.”

- Thomas Edison

Edison propelled his philanthropy through his business whether it was bio-manufacturing a new rubber plant when there were fears that the US would run out of the natural resource, developing low cost concrete houses to address housing shortages, or allowing the free use of his fluoroscope patent(s) for medical use.

We are challenging your students to do the same - Be an inventor and a humanitarian! Students will choose a cause that is important to them (i.e. alternative energy, natural disaster relief, COVID pandemic innovations, animal welfare, etc.) and invent to create a solution for this problem that they see in the world. 

Invention Categories

Once students figure out a cause that is important to them, they should find a specific problem within the category that they think they could solve by inventing! Please choose a category for your team to invent in & explore the examples to get some inspiration!

Note: Please use this list to start the conversation and inspire creativity for your own inventions, not copies of the ideas.

Girl with Horse

ANIMALS

(Recommended for elementary teams)

  • Animal welfare & services

    • Tunnels in railroads made for turtles to safely pass through

    • An mobile application to diagnose your dog's rash (previous project)

    • A way to track and detect homeless dogs in the neighborhood

  • Wildlife conservation

    • ​Artificial intelligence to detect deforestation 
    • Safer animal-tracking systems for research
Girl with Windmill Toy

ENVIRONMENT

(Recommended for all levels)

  • Environmental protection and conservation

    • Water bottle that filters water with just a shake (previous project)​

    • Shower that stops when you are wasting water

  • Alternative & clean energy

    • Solar phone charger​ built into beach umbrella (previous project)

  • Recycling & sustainability 

    • A mobile application to learn how to recycle specific items (previous project)

Doctor Analyzing X-Rays

HEALTH

(Recommended for Middle & High School Teams)

  • Diseases & disorders

    • Heart valve that runs off of renewable energy (previous project)

    • Inhaler that requires less force & precision to work (previous project)

    • Cuffless blood pressure monitor & application (previous project)

  • Patient and family support

    • Portable IV Backpack for children hospitals (previous project)​

  • Treatment & prevention

    • Inflatable ​brace for injured athletes on the field (previous project)

  • Accessible healthcare options

    • Bubblewrap limbs for amputees in 3rd world countries​ (previous project)

Teacher Assisting a Student

EDUCATION

(Recommended for all levels)

  • School Improvements

    • Energy-generating bounce seats for classrooms (previous project)

    • Noise detector that changes color when library gets too loud

    • Efficient air filtering system for school buildings that doesn't need to be replaced often (previous project)

  • Hyrbrid or Remote Learning

    • An application ​to make digital learning at home easier

    • See-through COVID masks to help deaf classmates communicate

Volunteers

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

(Recommended for all levels)

  • Improvements for your own neighborhood

    • Mall parking system that allows people to choose spots based on their special needs ahead of time (previous project)

    • Robot to serve lunches during COVID (previous project)

    • Speed bumps to power street lamps in town (previous project)

  • Natural Disaster Relief

    • Solar powered rescue raft (previous project)

    • Sustainable hurricane shelters (previous project)

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Agriculture and Food 
(Recommended for middle and high school teams)

  • Farming

    • More energy efficient vertical farming, a more sustainable and affordable solution for worldwide food shortages (previous project)

    • Smart tree-planting robot eliminating a need for labor and human monitoring (previous project)

    • Bee drones, supplement pollination due to decreased bee population

  • Food production

    • Nano-packaging, smart-packaging detects food safety and spoiling

    • Slot-drain, a more modern approach to trench drain in food processing factories to prevent standing water and bacterial growth

    • MES, smart technology that traces and analyzes ingredients used in food processing plants to more rapidly detect contamination

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Entertainment
(Recommended for all levels)

  • Music

    • Bitcrusher, adds digital effects to the electric guitar through a small device that mounts onto the instrument

    • Soundbeamer, beam music into your head without the need for headphones using a 3D sensing module and "sound pockets"

    • EyeHarp, enables individuals with disabilities to make music using their gaze instead of their hands through a digital instrument

  • Video gaming

    • Controller grips, make gaming more comfortable

    • VR technology, allows gamer to feel like they are inside of a game

  • Film making 

    • Green screen technology, allows filmmakers to add digital backgrounds to 

    • 3D Printing in stop motion animation & prop making, minimizing time and costs while increasing creative freedom

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Safety 
(Recommended for all levels)

  • Child safety

    • Carbon-monoxide/temperature sensing car seat (previous project)

    • GPS embedded shoes to prevent missing children (previous project)

    • Fun, yet safe, helmets that make kids want to wear them

    • Glowing pods to detect temperature changes in baby's room

  • Transportation safety

    • Crash detecting bike sensors (previous project)

    • Solar-powered bike lanes to provide an illuminated path for cyclists

    • Traffic sign recognition, to detect stop signs and speed limit changes and alert vehicle drivers

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