CCDS InvenTeam February Blog
Intro
The team had one of their busiest months yet this February with the Mid-Grant Technical Review (MGTR) on February 20th. We planned on giving a great presentation to our attendees and we did just that! Numerous things went into this which you will read about later; however, one of the biggest accomplishments was our successful filing for a provisional patent. Going into the event, we knew to really captivate the audience, we needed to be able to show them ‘everything.’ This meant we didn’t want to keep any details from them in relation to the technical side of the invention. So, in the weeks leading up to the MGTR, the team met with Mr. Alex J. Johnson, a patent attorney at the law firm Frost Brown Todd, to understand the patent process. The entire team worked tirelessly on drafting a provisional patent application. Mr. Johnson completed the application, and the day before our MGTR, he filed the application. Thanks to his pro bono work, our invention is now patent pending! We were able to demonstrate our prototype at the MGTR while also maintaining protection for our intellectual property.
Tech
The technical team began the month with an ambitious goal—to have a working prototype by our MGTR. After long hours working in the school makerspace and outside of school, the technical team created a working prototype. It showed two green laser lines projected onto the ground and blinkers that were activated via buttons on the bicycle's handlebars. The laser lines projected on the ground are intended to work in tandem with the blinkers to provide a clear passing distance for motorists and to indicate which direction the bicyclist is turning. The technical team was able to achieve this goal in part by working with multiple community members, including Henry Pease, an alumni of our school. Henry and his brothers recently scored a deal on Shark Tank for their technological invention, Rekkie Smart Snow Goggles, so the team was very excited to meet him. He assisted the team in correcting a tricky problem with our circuit board, which we had attempted to troubleshoot for weeks.
After the MGTR, the team began working more on the artificial intelligence (AI) component of the invention. The technical team continued the sound-recording process for artificial intelligence, and borrowed a high quality, shotgun microphone from the school to get detailed audio to train the AI model. Moving forward, the technical team will continue to improve upon the prototype, but also direct their focus more and more towards the artificial intelligence component of the invention solution.
Communications
The communications team was faced with the intimidating task of preparing for the MGTR. First, the team needed to send out invitations for the event. After working with the school’s advancement office, the team sent out digital invitations to our community which included a link to RSVP and donate. To create a professional display for those that attended the MGTR, the team worked to personalize the event by ordering materials that were branded with our CCDS InvenTeam logo: notebooks, napkins, stickers (which we printed in-house), and cookies. We designed a brochure with a link to donate and handed out our business cards. We used Adobe Illustrator to design four posters to showcase our team members and each stage of our work so far. We also created a slide show that displayed our journey from June through February. This created a professional atmosphere and really impressed the attendees.
The communications team continued to contact local media organizations, as we did previously in the year, to showcase our work to a wider audience and share this incredible milestone.
Mid-Grant Technical Review
The CCDS InvenTeam’s MGTR could not have gone better. This is because of the long hours the team put in rehearsing and preparing for this event. Our biggest work in preparing for this event was filing the provisional patent with the help of Mr. Johnson so we could give a detailed demonstration to our guests. In tandem with this, the team practiced the presentation for three days straight, really nailing down the perfect delivery for our audience.
The event itself had a great turnout with over 70 community members in attendance. Everyone on the team was given a different topic to present relating to their role on the team, and every single member nailed it. The team gave a presentation that was engaging to our audience and showed that we knew our stuff. The team also presented a physical, working prototype for people to see and even try out after the presentation was finished.
Our guests were truly impressed with our presentation, the atmosphere, the protype, and the personalized materials that we distributed to them. We were able to raise significant funds before, during, and after the event from our community members. This will help us push forward our invention solution and help defray the cost of travel to EurekaFest!
