Inventor Challenge
All Projects must include: Research on the theory of the science and/or engineering, a literature review, and original science research and/or engineering design.
| Idea | Explanation | Do this if you like … | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young Innovator Tech Award | This contest is in honor of former Menlo student Katie Swanson. It’s a broad categorie with the commonality of doing something beneficial to humanity. Could be something in technology for green energy or help to third world countries. Could be something in medicine. Could be something in education … | Inventing. It takes perceverence to be original. It takes trying out many ideas until one sticks. The thrill of adventuring into new territory is an awesome feeling | Katie Swanson award and all the other young tech innovator awards are listed here at the Tech Awards |
| Vehicle Stopper | Out of control vehicles or purposeful suicide vehicles are a big problem for everyday people and soldiers abroad dealing with terrorism. Do something about it. | Thinking out of the box and doing something real. A combination of mechanical and/or programming work. If you can do this with a mini RC prototype car you are already a hero in my book. | Vehicle Challenge |
| Siemens Science Competition | Do an original experiment and feel the thrill of discovery. I can help guide you and/or we can find another scientist in the area to mentor you. The simpler the experiment the better most often. | Brainstorming. A never say die attitude. Science and doing a real life experiment. | Siemens Competition |
| Moon Crater Finder | Invent an algorithm to automatically find craters on the moon. | Programming and space. | Tournament Lab |
| Challenge.gov | This site contains all the challenges currently being sponsored by the government. Check them out, there’s hundreds. You don’t have to win the challenge to be an ASR star. The fun is in the trying and you never know… you might just win! | Something real. Working with a team. Combination of electronics, mechanics, programming… | Challenge.gov |
| Autonomous Satellite Docking | In there own words ‘The objective of this specific challenge is to write a computer program to control a satellite (called a “Tender”) to enable it to dock with a space object (or POD) that may be tumbling through space.’ | Programming and space. | Tournament Lab |
| Collapsable/Folding Objects | There are a lot of things that take up a bunch of space that don’t need to (like kayaks, for example). Take a regular object and design a product that can be folded/collapsed down to a more manageable size. | Tinkering, building, creative thinking. | Folding KayakVideo from 2013 Maker Faire |
| West Point Bridge Design and Build Contest | “The purpose of the contest is to provide middle school and high school students with a realistic, engaging introduction to engineering” | Building, bridges. | Website |