Bright Ideas win awards

Bright Ideas Win Awards.
A robot waiter, a finger drum machine and a trick whiteboard marker were among the winning entries in this year's Bright Sparks competition.
by Katarina Williams.

 

Have you ever dreamed of making your own crazy inventions? Ever stared out your bedroom window picturing wild and wacky constructions that take the world by storm?

 

Ever thought, "I wish I had a product that would solve this problem"? For the many students who entered this year's ETITO Bright Sparks HiTech competition, these kinds of thoughts occur often.

 

The competition is New Zealand's premier showcase for the young and inquisitive to show off their technological talent, with entrants aged from 11 to 18 years. It attracts inventions competing for glory in one of the five electronics, software and biotechnology categories.

 

The awards ceremony was held at the Rydge's Hotel in Christchurch at the end of September. Although the types of inventions on display at the event were unique, the inventors all shared something in common: a love for science and technology, as well as a desire to continue studying, at either university or polytechnic, after fi nishing high school.

 

MUSIC MASTERS

 

Two entries that won acclaim in this year's competition merged technology with music. Finn Butler's constant tapping was incredibly annoying to his friends and family.

 

Fortunately, it provided him with the inspiration for his award-winning invention - a fi nger drum machine.

 

"I always have a rhythm in my head and I was always tapping. People used to get really annoyed with it," Finn says. The invention works by strapping a specially constructed glove onto your hand, which comes complete with fi ngertip sensors.

 

Each finger controls a different drum sound, allowing aspiring drummers to plan their performance without the need for a full drum kit. The drumming music you are creating can be heard through a headset or speakers.

 

Finn says he designed the computer programme used in his fi nger drum machine by himself and used the internet to source the diff erent drum sounds.

 

Because of this, his software has the potential to use any drums of any origin.

 

The 12-year-old intermediate school student was the junior winner of Best Original Circuit and Best Original Computer Programme.

 

Despite being among the youngest in the competition, he still has big plans for his future.

 

"I want to make really little technological stuff . My interest is in robotics and technology," he says.

 

Pavel Diatchenko's band, Laidrive, may not require his electric guitar-playing services anymore. He has managed to programme his guitar to play the Red Hot Chili Peppers song 'Under The Bridge' by itself, using a combination of electronics, pneumatics and computer programming.

 

Pavel says: "It took me a week to come up with the idea and two months to fi nish it." The invention is called a Tech Guitar.

 

It can be programmed to play any combination of chords and notes. An Atmel Mega controls the fi ve servo motors that pluck the strings of his guitar, while the pneumatic cylinders press on the bridge and select the notes.

 

After a fantastic solo effort in the competition, the Auckland student is now looking towards future study in either business or engineering - unless he can take Dave Navarro's spot in the Chili Peppers.

 

WINNING ROBOTS
If music is not your forte, then perhaps being pampered and waited on hand and foot is. Joseph Cooper from Mackenzie College in Fairlie designed a robotic waiter that delivers wine and plays music to you while you blob out on the couch not having to lift a finger.

 

The silver robot, complete with fl ashing green LED eyes, is controlled by pressing the numbers on a mobile phone keypad.

 

"It [the robot] is controlled by a telephone," Joseph says. The waiter recognises the diff erent tones from the phone remote control and will then automatically complete the required task.

 

It can move in any direction using the remote. The robot waiter has a storage area for a bottle of wine and uses a pump dispenser at the front of the prototype to pour it.

 

An automatic bottle replacement arm can be found at the back of the robot. This magnificent creation gave 17-year-old Joseph the accolade of Best Original Circuit (senior).

 

Another robot that triumphed this year was one made to seek light, invented by 17- year-old Christophe Lenior. Being involved in technology is something of a passion for him: "It is just a different thing. It's new and it is just something I have always liked. I have always been into science and technology."

 

He plans to start a degree in engineering at Wintec, looking specifi cally at Mechatronics.

 

TRICKING TEACHERS

 

Everyone likes a good prank, especially when it's at the expense of one of your teachers. Conor McCauley, 12, and Daniel Thomson, 11, agree so they have come up with a trick whiteboard marker.

 

It works like this. When your teacher goes to write something with the marker, a mercury switch activates a time delay. A motor from a mobile phone kicks in and the pen starts to vibrate, making writing impossible and eventually forcing your teacher to drop the pen.

 

Matthew Richardson, 17, attends Manurewa High School, in Auckland. His winning entry is called the Navbot and uses a Local Positioning Sensor (LPS). This sensor uses ultrasonic sound to locate the Navbot in relation to fi xed beacons.

 

A radio pulse wakes up the transmitters in the beacons which, in turn, send an ultrasonic pulse to the Navbot. It then triangulates its position and the information is sent to a laptop through a radio frequency.

 

This allows the Navbot to work out its position within 2cm to 3cm accuracy.

 

This invention took out the supreme award in the competition, as well as second place in the Best Original Circuit category. The project has the potential to be used in warehouses to get stock.

 

Matthew's physics teacher, Fenella Colyer, says he will go to the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) after he has finished his schooling, focusing on electrical engineering. She says the key to doing well in competitions such as the Bright Sparks HiTech competition is entering science fairs. "The fi rst thing I did was to get him into the science fair. He represented our school in the South Auckland region competition and came first."

 

There is one thing Ms Colyer always tries to emphasise to her students: "Science opens doors."

 

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