Little inventors shine at Makers Day

Dubai - 'Innovation' was the keyword at the GEMS Education-hosted fifth annual edition of Maker Day held at the GEMS Wellington Academy Dubai Silicon Oasis campus.

 Team Creatinin's prototype 'Mobile Bridge Layer' can be lodged on either sides of a river bank during a flood or an earth quake. The bridge moves over the river and can go a long distance on rescue missions, transporting both humans and vehicles from one side to the other.
"The idea for the project came from the Chennai floods. We saw that it was one of the bigger problems during rescue operations. Since the rivers were inundated, people found it hard to cross them to go to safer lands," said Yash Dhandyal, one of the inventors in Team Creatinin. "And so the bridge was born. States can own the bridge and put it to use during natural calamities to organise rescue operations and other missions that require a moving bridge," added Dhandyal.
The highly sophisticated idea from Team Creatinin - a group of four students from the GEMS Modern Academy - was one of the most creative inventions at the fifth edition of the Annual GEMS Makers Day. The students are Yash Dhandyal, Alwyn Panhale, Ansh Mehta, and Advait Umashankar, all of them aged 12.
'Innovation' was the keyword at the GEMS Education-hosted fifth annual edition of Maker Day - a community celebration of innovation and creativity - held at the GEMS Wellington Academy Dubai Silicon Oasis campus.
Over 60 workshops held for innovators of all ages. However, it was the little inventors who stole the show at the annual science fair.
Christine Nasserghods, innovation leader at the Innovation, Research and Development Department of GEMS Education, said that the event was heavily promoted through Facebook and saw a participation of 33 schools from across the UAE. "The fair saw participation from 1,800 students and visitors," she said, adding that "it is amazing to have so many students participating, especially since we started with only one school and it grew into an entire network of schools wanting to participate."
The Makers Day, open to general public, was attended by over 6,000 people and included exhibits, designs and creative concepts that aim to improve communities through shared learning. Original interactive exhibits created by students ranged from personally designed inventions, apps, games, robots and engineering projects to 3D-printed projects, environment solutions and rockets.
The students take their creative ideas and turn it into tangible solutions for various problems across the globe. Some of the key inventions seen were the 'Transportation Robot', a robot designed to help move people through the metro; 'Technobike', a gadget to save the non-renewable resources of energy like electricity and at the same time maintain our health; 'Internet of Things Irrigation System', to monitor water usage; the 'Drone rescue system', to track and find people in hard to reach areas; amongst the 215 original student projects exhibited at the event.
Shalaka Shankar, a 14-year-old Grade 8 student of Our Own English High School Dubai, said: "My project was based on hydroponics and it is something I'm very passionate about."
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE