1. What is "Shark Tank" anyway?
2. What does this have to do with us?
Why are we doing this? This isn't real-life...or is it?
Read the articles and watch the videos below. As you read/watch, answer the following questions about each article. Place these in your OneNote on a page entitled, "Entry Event". For question 5-6: Answer this question only once after having read ALL of the articles.
Questions:
1. What does the invention do?
2. Who is the invention supposed to help?
3. How old was the inventor?
4. Why was there a need for this invention?
5. (ANSWER ONLY ONCE) Compare/contrast why/how the inventors came up with the idea for their product.
6. (ANSWER ONLY ONCE) Create a list of regular day-to-day activities that you do. (i.e. brushing your teeth, or changing a television channel)
Questions:
1. What does the invention do?
2. Who is the invention supposed to help?
3. How old was the inventor?
4. Why was there a need for this invention?
5. (ANSWER ONLY ONCE) Compare/contrast why/how the inventors came up with the idea for their product.
6. (ANSWER ONLY ONCE) Create a list of regular day-to-day activities that you do. (i.e. brushing your teeth, or changing a television channel)
Smart Bandage
Braille Printer
Meet the 13-Year-Old Who Invented a Low-Cost Braille Printer
One California teen has a vision to make Braille materials more widely available—and more affordable
image: http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/a0/2b/a02ba3bd-402b-445e-8747-b03260c0fbd1/shubham-banerjee.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg
It took several weeks and a number of attempts before Shubham Banerjee built a working prototype of his Braille printer. (Intel)
By Brittany Shoot
According to the National Federation of the Blind, fewer than 10 percent of 1.3 million blind Americans can read Braille. By comparison, in the 1950s, more than half of blind children learned to read the series of raised bumps.
This change has been brought on, in part, by the growth in assistive technology. In the past decade, voice-to-text software has dramatically changed the lives of the visually impaired. There are software programs that read text aloud, and most consumer hardware devices such as smartphones and tablets come equipped with software that can answer questions or provide small bits of information. A surprisingly few people with low vision or blindness even have access to Braille materials.
Shubham Banerjee stumbled across these facts, just as he was trying to come up with an entry-level engineering project in January 2014 for a science fair.
The 12-year-old realized that while many people have devices able to read aloud in some capacity, assuming voice-to-text should replace Braille is a costly proposition and one many people simply can’t afford. What if he could significantly reduce the cost of a Braille printer from $2,000—the going rate for a traditional Braille printer-embosser—to $200? Some Silicon Valley startups had been trying to do the same but with little success.
It took several weeks and a number of attempts—seven, to be exact—before Banerjee built a working prototype, using a Lego Mindstorms EV3 robotics kit and some small electrical components that cost a few dollars, that printed the six dots of the Braille sequence. He’d often stay up until 2 a.m., toiling away on the device, his father Niloy, a software engineer, right there beside him at the kitchen table. Shubham notes that because his encouraging parents are always happy to purchase educational toys, it wasn’t hard to convince them to shell out $350 for a Mindstorms kit.
Now 13 years old and a Santa Clara, California high school freshman, Banerjee is the inventor of Braigo, a groundbreaking low-cost Braille printer-embosser. The Braigo printer is a small, portable machine that looks a lot like any other printer—only it spits out strings of raised bumps instead of flat text on a page.
Banerjee co-founded a small company, Braigo Labs, to help further develop the printer for educational and home use, as well as provide open source documentation to anyone who wants to buy the Mindstorms kit and try making a Braigo v1.0 at home. (“Braigo” is a portmanteau of “Braille” and “Lego.”) Braigo v2.0, an assembled off-the-shelf version, will hit the market this fall.
“Some [people] said that the market is not that big, or [that this is] a specialty product,” Banerjee says, unfazed. “I just went ahead with what I thought was right.”
The young inventor will be participating in the Smithsonian's Innovation Festival at the National Museum of American History on September 26 and 27. The two-day festival, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will look at how today's inventors—independent, and from companies, universities and government agencies—are shaping the future.
Will Butler, the media and communications officer for San Francisco non-profit LightHouse for the Blind, says that Braille isn’t in the same category as a dying language. “[Braille] doesn't die off or become irrelevant over time. It's simply code,” he explains. “And it's the only code that allows blind people to fully comprehend concepts like punctuation, homophones and other grammatical details note-for-note the way a sighted person could. For that reason, Braille is essential to literacy, particularly for those who have been blind from a young age.”
Henry Wedler, a PhD candidate in organic chemistry at the University of California, Davis, was extremely impressed when he read about Banerjee’s invention in the news. Wedler, who was born blind and has been honored by President Barack Obama as a Champion of Change for his work leading a chemistry camp for visually impaired students, took a chance and reached out to Banerjee. Several weeks later, Banerjee and his father took the printer to the university to demonstrate the device for Wedler in person.
“What I witnessed was a state-of-the-art, inexpensive and—perhaps most importantly—unique Braille printer that produced accurate Braille characters,” says Wedler, who is now an advisor to Braigo Labs. “Inventors have been attempting to do what Shubham has done with Braille embossers for many years. Sometimes, it takes a young, fresh imagination and a will of iron to be truly innovative. This is the energy and quality that Shubham’s knowledge and passion as an inventor bring to Silicon Valley.”
Butler adds that a low-cost Braille printer could be a game-changer for the blind, as physical aids, software and Braille materials can be expensive, and rehabilitation funding offered by the state is often only available for blind people who can show that they are working on specific job placement. “That’s a narrow slice of the population, even more so in the blind community,” he adds. “So for everybody else who can't qualify for state aid, any technology costs come out of pocket.”
Banerjee entered his new product in the 2014 Synopsis Science Fair, a countywide science fair for students attending schools in Santa Clara County, California; and took home the Synopsis Outreach Foundation n+1 Prize, the top prize for a science or engineering breakthrough. The Braigo printer, which won Banerjee a $500 prize, was up against engineering projects including radar-guided rock layer surface mapping and walking shoes that generate electricity.
Braigo Labs has filed four patents so far, and there will be more to follow, says Niloy Banerjee, Shubham’s father and director of Braigo’s board. The names Braigo and Braigo Labs have also been trademarked.
The young inventor even brought in venture capital to ensure the success of his creation. Intel Capital, the VC arm of the technology giant, awarded Braigo an undisclosed amount of funding—enough to hire engineers to keep working on the prototype. It also asked that Banerjee experiment with Intel’s Edison, a microprocessor roughly the size of an SD card that comes equipped with WiFi and Bluetooth. In September 2014, Banerjee showed off his latest prototype of the Braigo v2.0 at the Intel Developers Forum, an annual industry gathering of technologists, in San Francisco.
Banerjee doesn’t think of himself as a radical, world-changing inventor. “I just think of myself as a guy who wants to solve random problems,” he says humbly. Aside from a few jokes from his football teammates when they figured out they had a “genius” in their midst, Banerjee says his classmates don’t give his celebrity inventor status a second thought. “They’re pretty chill,” he adds, sounding unaffected by the attention. “They don’t treat me differently.”
That said, Banerjee does have plans for other projects. But for now, he says, those are secret.
One California teen has a vision to make Braille materials more widely available—and more affordable
image: http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/a0/2b/a02ba3bd-402b-445e-8747-b03260c0fbd1/shubham-banerjee.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg
It took several weeks and a number of attempts before Shubham Banerjee built a working prototype of his Braille printer. (Intel)
By Brittany Shoot
According to the National Federation of the Blind, fewer than 10 percent of 1.3 million blind Americans can read Braille. By comparison, in the 1950s, more than half of blind children learned to read the series of raised bumps.
This change has been brought on, in part, by the growth in assistive technology. In the past decade, voice-to-text software has dramatically changed the lives of the visually impaired. There are software programs that read text aloud, and most consumer hardware devices such as smartphones and tablets come equipped with software that can answer questions or provide small bits of information. A surprisingly few people with low vision or blindness even have access to Braille materials.
Shubham Banerjee stumbled across these facts, just as he was trying to come up with an entry-level engineering project in January 2014 for a science fair.
The 12-year-old realized that while many people have devices able to read aloud in some capacity, assuming voice-to-text should replace Braille is a costly proposition and one many people simply can’t afford. What if he could significantly reduce the cost of a Braille printer from $2,000—the going rate for a traditional Braille printer-embosser—to $200? Some Silicon Valley startups had been trying to do the same but with little success.
It took several weeks and a number of attempts—seven, to be exact—before Banerjee built a working prototype, using a Lego Mindstorms EV3 robotics kit and some small electrical components that cost a few dollars, that printed the six dots of the Braille sequence. He’d often stay up until 2 a.m., toiling away on the device, his father Niloy, a software engineer, right there beside him at the kitchen table. Shubham notes that because his encouraging parents are always happy to purchase educational toys, it wasn’t hard to convince them to shell out $350 for a Mindstorms kit.
Now 13 years old and a Santa Clara, California high school freshman, Banerjee is the inventor of Braigo, a groundbreaking low-cost Braille printer-embosser. The Braigo printer is a small, portable machine that looks a lot like any other printer—only it spits out strings of raised bumps instead of flat text on a page.
Banerjee co-founded a small company, Braigo Labs, to help further develop the printer for educational and home use, as well as provide open source documentation to anyone who wants to buy the Mindstorms kit and try making a Braigo v1.0 at home. (“Braigo” is a portmanteau of “Braille” and “Lego.”) Braigo v2.0, an assembled off-the-shelf version, will hit the market this fall.
“Some [people] said that the market is not that big, or [that this is] a specialty product,” Banerjee says, unfazed. “I just went ahead with what I thought was right.”
The young inventor will be participating in the Smithsonian's Innovation Festival at the National Museum of American History on September 26 and 27. The two-day festival, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will look at how today's inventors—independent, and from companies, universities and government agencies—are shaping the future.
Will Butler, the media and communications officer for San Francisco non-profit LightHouse for the Blind, says that Braille isn’t in the same category as a dying language. “[Braille] doesn't die off or become irrelevant over time. It's simply code,” he explains. “And it's the only code that allows blind people to fully comprehend concepts like punctuation, homophones and other grammatical details note-for-note the way a sighted person could. For that reason, Braille is essential to literacy, particularly for those who have been blind from a young age.”
Henry Wedler, a PhD candidate in organic chemistry at the University of California, Davis, was extremely impressed when he read about Banerjee’s invention in the news. Wedler, who was born blind and has been honored by President Barack Obama as a Champion of Change for his work leading a chemistry camp for visually impaired students, took a chance and reached out to Banerjee. Several weeks later, Banerjee and his father took the printer to the university to demonstrate the device for Wedler in person.
“What I witnessed was a state-of-the-art, inexpensive and—perhaps most importantly—unique Braille printer that produced accurate Braille characters,” says Wedler, who is now an advisor to Braigo Labs. “Inventors have been attempting to do what Shubham has done with Braille embossers for many years. Sometimes, it takes a young, fresh imagination and a will of iron to be truly innovative. This is the energy and quality that Shubham’s knowledge and passion as an inventor bring to Silicon Valley.”
Butler adds that a low-cost Braille printer could be a game-changer for the blind, as physical aids, software and Braille materials can be expensive, and rehabilitation funding offered by the state is often only available for blind people who can show that they are working on specific job placement. “That’s a narrow slice of the population, even more so in the blind community,” he adds. “So for everybody else who can't qualify for state aid, any technology costs come out of pocket.”
Banerjee entered his new product in the 2014 Synopsis Science Fair, a countywide science fair for students attending schools in Santa Clara County, California; and took home the Synopsis Outreach Foundation n+1 Prize, the top prize for a science or engineering breakthrough. The Braigo printer, which won Banerjee a $500 prize, was up against engineering projects including radar-guided rock layer surface mapping and walking shoes that generate electricity.
Braigo Labs has filed four patents so far, and there will be more to follow, says Niloy Banerjee, Shubham’s father and director of Braigo’s board. The names Braigo and Braigo Labs have also been trademarked.
The young inventor even brought in venture capital to ensure the success of his creation. Intel Capital, the VC arm of the technology giant, awarded Braigo an undisclosed amount of funding—enough to hire engineers to keep working on the prototype. It also asked that Banerjee experiment with Intel’s Edison, a microprocessor roughly the size of an SD card that comes equipped with WiFi and Bluetooth. In September 2014, Banerjee showed off his latest prototype of the Braigo v2.0 at the Intel Developers Forum, an annual industry gathering of technologists, in San Francisco.
Banerjee doesn’t think of himself as a radical, world-changing inventor. “I just think of myself as a guy who wants to solve random problems,” he says humbly. Aside from a few jokes from his football teammates when they figured out they had a “genius” in their midst, Banerjee says his classmates don’t give his celebrity inventor status a second thought. “They’re pretty chill,” he adds, sounding unaffected by the attention. “They don’t treat me differently.”
That said, Banerjee does have plans for other projects. But for now, he says, those are secret.
Braille
Louis Braille (1809-1852)
Six dots. Six bumps. Six bumps in different patterns, like constellations, spreading out over the page. What are they? Numbers, letters, words. Who made this code? None other than Louis Braille, a French 12-year-old, who was also blind. And his work changed the world of reading and writing, forever.
Louis was from a small town called Coupvray, near Paris—he was born on January 4 in 1809. Louis became blind by accident, when he was 3 years old. Deep in his Dad's harness workshop, Louis tried to be like his Dad, but it went very wrong; he grabbed an awl, a sharp tool for making holes, and the tool slid and hurt his eye. The wound got infected, and the infection spread, and soon, Louis was blind in both eyes.
All of a sudden, Louis needed a new way to learn. He stayed at his old school for two more years, but he couldn't learn everything just by listening. Things were looking up when Louis got a scholarship to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris, when he was 10. But even there, most of the teachers just talked at the students. The library had 14 huge books with raised letters that were very hard to read. Louis was impatient.
Then in 1821, a former soldier named Charles Barbier visited the school. Barbier shared his invention called "night writing," a code of 12 raised dots that let soldiers share top-secret information on the battlefield without even having to speak. Unfortunately, the code was too hard for the soldiers, but not for 12-year-old Louis!
Louis trimmed Barbier's 12 dots into 6, ironed out the system by the time he was 15, then published the first-ever braille book in 1829. But did he stop there? No way! In 1837, he added symbols for math and music. But since the public was skeptical, blind students had to study braille on their own. Even at the Royal Institution, where Louis taught after he graduated, braille wasn't taught until after his death. Braille began to spread worldwide in 1868, when a group of British men, now known as the Royal National Institute for the Blind, took up the cause.
Now practically every country in the world uses braille. Braille books have double-sided pages, which saves a lot of space. Braille signs help blind people get around in public spaces. And, most important, blind people can communicate independently, without needing print.
Louis proved that if you have the motivation, you can do incredible things.
Six dots. Six bumps. Six bumps in different patterns, like constellations, spreading out over the page. What are they? Numbers, letters, words. Who made this code? None other than Louis Braille, a French 12-year-old, who was also blind. And his work changed the world of reading and writing, forever.
Louis was from a small town called Coupvray, near Paris—he was born on January 4 in 1809. Louis became blind by accident, when he was 3 years old. Deep in his Dad's harness workshop, Louis tried to be like his Dad, but it went very wrong; he grabbed an awl, a sharp tool for making holes, and the tool slid and hurt his eye. The wound got infected, and the infection spread, and soon, Louis was blind in both eyes.
All of a sudden, Louis needed a new way to learn. He stayed at his old school for two more years, but he couldn't learn everything just by listening. Things were looking up when Louis got a scholarship to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris, when he was 10. But even there, most of the teachers just talked at the students. The library had 14 huge books with raised letters that were very hard to read. Louis was impatient.
Then in 1821, a former soldier named Charles Barbier visited the school. Barbier shared his invention called "night writing," a code of 12 raised dots that let soldiers share top-secret information on the battlefield without even having to speak. Unfortunately, the code was too hard for the soldiers, but not for 12-year-old Louis!
Louis trimmed Barbier's 12 dots into 6, ironed out the system by the time he was 15, then published the first-ever braille book in 1829. But did he stop there? No way! In 1837, he added symbols for math and music. But since the public was skeptical, blind students had to study braille on their own. Even at the Royal Institution, where Louis taught after he graduated, braille wasn't taught until after his death. Braille began to spread worldwide in 1868, when a group of British men, now known as the Royal National Institute for the Blind, took up the cause.
Now practically every country in the world uses braille. Braille books have double-sided pages, which saves a lot of space. Braille signs help blind people get around in public spaces. And, most important, blind people can communicate independently, without needing print.
Louis proved that if you have the motivation, you can do incredible things.
Baby on Board
FLOWOOD, MS (Mississippi News Now) -A Hartfield Academy 7th grader has created a science project aimed at lowering the number of hot car baby deaths.
Kayleigh Yung wanted to create something that could potentially help with a growing problem facing our nation.
This summer there were three hot car baby deaths in Mississippi alone.
Yung's science teacher told students the project had to have two goals - simplicity and broaden awareness, so Yung created "Baby on Board."
"Well it's based on a simple circuit which has a battery and an cathode to connect," Yung explained. "It sends an electrical current and lights up the led light."
It took her about a week to create the circuit that connects to a car seat. The seatbelt serves as the on and off switch.
"So we have two strings of LEDs, so we put one part of the wire right here and then the other right here," Yung explained. "And then when they connect it sends an electrical current through and lights up the sign."
The "Baby on Board" lighted sign can be different sizes.
"Most of these tragedies happen in very public places, so there are going to be people around," said Kenneth Yung, Kayleigh's father. "So if other people can see that the light is on, they know for some reason the seat-belt buckle is buckled."
Yung's classmate gathered statistics.
"Since 1998, there have been 698 deaths and that averages to 37 per year," said Emily Humphreys, a 7th grader at Hartfield Academy.
The two hope the simplistic child car seat warning system will help save a life.
"It's pretty sad because they can't do anything about it," Humphreys said. "They are just trapped in there, heating up and dying. They're helpless,"
Kayleigh Yung wanted to create something that could potentially help with a growing problem facing our nation.
This summer there were three hot car baby deaths in Mississippi alone.
Yung's science teacher told students the project had to have two goals - simplicity and broaden awareness, so Yung created "Baby on Board."
"Well it's based on a simple circuit which has a battery and an cathode to connect," Yung explained. "It sends an electrical current and lights up the led light."
It took her about a week to create the circuit that connects to a car seat. The seatbelt serves as the on and off switch.
"So we have two strings of LEDs, so we put one part of the wire right here and then the other right here," Yung explained. "And then when they connect it sends an electrical current through and lights up the sign."
The "Baby on Board" lighted sign can be different sizes.
"Most of these tragedies happen in very public places, so there are going to be people around," said Kenneth Yung, Kayleigh's father. "So if other people can see that the light is on, they know for some reason the seat-belt buckle is buckled."
Yung's classmate gathered statistics.
"Since 1998, there have been 698 deaths and that averages to 37 per year," said Emily Humphreys, a 7th grader at Hartfield Academy.
The two hope the simplistic child car seat warning system will help save a life.
"It's pretty sad because they can't do anything about it," Humphreys said. "They are just trapped in there, heating up and dying. They're helpless,"
Chemotherapy Backpack
An 11-year-old girl from Connecticut is spending the first months of her new school year handling a patent application, raising money online and screening companies that want to make her big idea -- an IV pediatric backpack for kids with cancer -- a reality.
Kylie Simonds, of Naugatuck, Connecticut, was in fifth grade last year when she took a standard classroom assignment -- create something to solve an everyday problem -- and turned it into something that could help thousands of kids with cancer.
"I came up with it from when I had cancer," Kylie told ABC News. "When I had chemo, I had to pull around the big IV pack, so I came up with this backpack.
"I remember tripping over all the wires, getting tangled up and having to drag this big thing around," said Kylie, who underwent months of chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries to beat rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood cancer she was diagnosed with three years ago, at age 8.
"I would have loved this thing for myself," she said.
The backpack prototype, which won Kylie four awards at a statewide invention convention, includes details like a drip bag protection cage so kids can move around without fearing they will puncture the medicine bag and an IV controller built into the bag to control the bag's flow rate.
"I worked with my mom and dad to actually make it and my nurses and doctors gave me some tips," Kylie said. "They were saying it has to be light and portable and there has to be something that protects it if you sit back, so I thought of the metal cage that protects it."
Right now, the bag features a Hello Kitty design but, Kylie said, the bag’s future will include customizable designs for boys and girls.
A Go Fund Me page created by Kylie and her parents to raise money for her backpack design has already raised nearly $47,000 in two months.
"Some companies have already emailed us about how they want to help us," said Kylie, who was treated at Yale Cancer Center in Connecticut. "My dad had to look through the emails to see which ones really want to help us and we found some companies that are good and we’re going to work with them."
Friends Kylie made while undergoing cancer treatment herself have, she said, already been emailing her to say they want the backpack now.
"It’s just touching my heart," she said.
Though Kylie's big idea is receiving nationwide attention and could have an impact on thousands of people, it is Kylie's fifth-grade teacher, who gave her the assignment in the first place, who may be the most impressed.
“She was just shocked and amazed,” Kylie said of her teacher. “She was really, really happy and excited to see it.”
Kylie Simonds, of Naugatuck, Connecticut, was in fifth grade last year when she took a standard classroom assignment -- create something to solve an everyday problem -- and turned it into something that could help thousands of kids with cancer.
"I came up with it from when I had cancer," Kylie told ABC News. "When I had chemo, I had to pull around the big IV pack, so I came up with this backpack.
"I remember tripping over all the wires, getting tangled up and having to drag this big thing around," said Kylie, who underwent months of chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries to beat rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood cancer she was diagnosed with three years ago, at age 8.
"I would have loved this thing for myself," she said.
The backpack prototype, which won Kylie four awards at a statewide invention convention, includes details like a drip bag protection cage so kids can move around without fearing they will puncture the medicine bag and an IV controller built into the bag to control the bag's flow rate.
"I worked with my mom and dad to actually make it and my nurses and doctors gave me some tips," Kylie said. "They were saying it has to be light and portable and there has to be something that protects it if you sit back, so I thought of the metal cage that protects it."
Right now, the bag features a Hello Kitty design but, Kylie said, the bag’s future will include customizable designs for boys and girls.
A Go Fund Me page created by Kylie and her parents to raise money for her backpack design has already raised nearly $47,000 in two months.
"Some companies have already emailed us about how they want to help us," said Kylie, who was treated at Yale Cancer Center in Connecticut. "My dad had to look through the emails to see which ones really want to help us and we found some companies that are good and we’re going to work with them."
Friends Kylie made while undergoing cancer treatment herself have, she said, already been emailing her to say they want the backpack now.
"It’s just touching my heart," she said.
Though Kylie's big idea is receiving nationwide attention and could have an impact on thousands of people, it is Kylie's fifth-grade teacher, who gave her the assignment in the first place, who may be the most impressed.
“She was just shocked and amazed,” Kylie said of her teacher. “She was really, really happy and excited to see it.”