On May 14, The Henry Ford recognized the 2020 winners of Invention Convention Michigan through a special awards ceremony hosted on our YouTube and Facebook channels. More than 2,600 students across the state participated in events leading up to the state final this year, with 155 students competing in the final competition. 





Thank you to staff who participated in judging this year, our sponsors, and congratulations to the students listed below who have been invited to compete at Invention Convention U.S. Nationals.  

Learn more about the winning inventions from the inventors themselves below along with our virtual awards ceremony.

Grades 3-5
Third Place: Falcon
Saiabhiram Akkaraju, Grade 5, Novi Meadows Elementary, Novi
Falcon (Flying Automated Litter Controller) is a Litter picking drone. 

Second Place: Dispens-a-Ramp
Diya Ural, Grade 4, Village Oaks Elementary, Novi 

The Dispens-a-Ramp is an invention to help big dogs that are having a hard time getting into cars (especially, SUVs). Dispens-a-Ramp is a bi-foldable ramp with a built-in automatic treat dispenser. When the dog puts its paw on the button, it triggers the treat dispenser to dispense the treat into the bowl. Each Dispens-a-Ramp could have few dispensing units.This encourages the dog to move further onto the ramp and finally, into the car.   

The main purpose of the invention is for the dogs to have a positive experience getting into the car. Hence, my motto is "One step to a Dog's Happy Journey". 

First Place: Filtere  – Water Filtration System
John Tewolde, Grade 5, Brendel Elementary, Grand Blanc

Filtere is a water filter that can be used to filter contaminated water. It uses three types of water filtration methods - Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), Ion Exchange, and UV light. This germ-killing combination gets all 30 of the particles that could end up in water. It can be used in any container of water, and cleans ALL germs within 30 seconds. Water contamination is a large problem in the world that affects more than two billion people. Filtere is an affordable and effective solution to this problem. 

Grades 6-8
Third Place: Piezo Power
Samvith Mahesh, Grade 6, Novi Meadows Elementary, Novi 

When pressure is applied to some special crystal structure deforms, atoms get pushed around, hence generating electricity and is known as Piezo electric affect. Our project is designing products that uses this science as an energy producer using energy humans exert while doing daily activities. 

Second Place: Porch Pirate Preventer (P3)
Akhilesh Shenoy and David Tauro, Grade 6, Novi Meadows Elementary, Novi

Did you know that over 1.7 million packages are stolen daily around the world?  Our incredible Porch Pirate Preventer (P3) stops package theft of porch deliveries in a very cost-effective way.

Our device, which is made up of a chip, an accelerometer, a Piezo buzzer and a numeric keypad, uses a loud alarm to prevent thieves from taking delivered packages.  The chip is programmed using Python to make the accelerometer and Piezo buzzer work with each other.   

Once the package is placed on the homeowner's porch, the delivery person uses the keypad on the package to activate P3. He/she then sends a message to the package owner to let them know that the package is delivered and activated. Only the package owner can deactivate P3 using the keypad on the package.  If the package is moved or a wrong code is entered, a loud alarm is set off. 

Just as bottle returns work in many states, P3 is fully refundable for the package owner when returned to participating merchants. The company can then reuse P3 on future deliveries. So it's a win-win all around!

First Place: Reinnervate
Suhani Dalela, Grade 8, Independent Inventor, Saline

Reinnervate is an alternative medicine based instant fatigue reduction device. Using World Health Organization's standardized meridian points, this device provides instant energy to the user without disrupting the activity they are doing.

Grade 9-12
Third Place and Howard & Howard Patent Award: EcoRinse
Elizabeth Li, Grade 12, Huron High School, Ann Arbor 

EcoRinse is a robust, redesigned showering system that aims to reduce water waste in the shower. It redirects cold water that sits in pipes into the water heating system so that the cold water can be reused as hot shower water instead of flowing down the drain while the user waits for water to heat up in the shower.

Second Place: Perceive the Puzzle
Jayden Smith and Siena Smith, Grade 12, Huron High School, Ann Arbor

Perceive the Puzzle is a portable EEG for autistic individuals. The device allows caregivers to monitor brain activity, helping them to address episodes of stress quickly and easily. This is something that you can't find anywhere on the market and hits close to home for us. Our project was inspired by our Uncle Mark who was diagnosed with autism with he was four so we wanted to make something that would help him!

Grand Prize and First Place: AstroTrack: An Efficient Approach to Minor Planet Recovery, Detection, and Characterization
Anirudh Cowlagi, Grade 12, Huron High School, Ann Arbor 

Advances in the field of planetary science, particularly concerning our own solar system, have been dramatic over the last few decades. These advancements owe largely to developments in observing technology and more comprehensive astronomical surveys across the world. However, with these copious amounts of new data comes a need for more effective methods of analysis. This project offers a solution to the issue by presenting an efficient Python-based approach to aid with the detection, recovery, and characterization of minor planets in the solar system (asteroids, trans-neptunian objects, Kuiper Belt objects, etc.).