Cambridge Rindge and Latin School

The 2024-2025 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams were selected by a panel of esteemed judges after several months of researching problems within their community that could be addressed with a technological solution. Teams will continue to learn more about the problems they selected in the first half of the grant year. Technological solutions will be prototyped, tested, and modified in the second half of the grant year. The technological solutions—inventions—will be showcased at MIT during EurekaFest, June 9-11, 2025. Team progress can be followed through Inside InvenTeams, a monthly newsletter. 

Problem Statement:

The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) InvenTeam determined that inequities in the sport of rowing can produce unsafe conditions for teams that are urban, scholastic, and public. In particular, the disparate funding between public and private school rowing teams is responsible for increased likelihood of separation incidents between rowers and coaches—where rowers are not in view of their coaches, subjecting them to potentially dangerous traffic situations—in programs with no (or relatively low) cost for participation. To address this, the CRLS InvenTeam will invent a technological solution that will allow for enhanced communication between coxswains, who lead the boat, and coaches. Such an invention will bridge the safety gap between public and private school crews, increasing equity in the sport.