BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A team of student inventors from Beaver Country Day School, one of only 16 high schools nationwide selected to receive a $10,000 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant in the 2012-2013 school year, recently completed its hands-free, quasi autonomous device, the JARVIS. The JARVIS, or Just an Automated Robotic Vehicular Independence System, carries up to 50 pounds of secured cargo for persons in a wheelchair or who need hands-free assistance in transporting cargo.
The Beaver Country Day School InvenTeam will travel to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass., to exhibit and demonstrate its invention at the InvenTeams Showcase during EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit, on Friday, June 21. EurekaFest is an annual event presented by the Lemelson-MIT Program, a nonprofit organization at MIT that inspires youth to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.
EurekaFest empowers a legacy of inventors through activities that honor role models and encourage creativity and problem solving. The festivities will also provide the Beaver InvenTeam with the opportunity to meet fellow student inventors from across the country, past and present Lemelson-MIT Program award winners, MIT alumni and staff and leaders in the science, technology and engineering communities.
“The InvenTeam high school grants initiative represents the future,” said Leigh Estabrooks, invention education officer from the Lemelson-MIT Program. “We place an emphasis on STEM-focused projects to foster interest in these fields among youth. With InvenTeams, our primary goal is to develop high school students’ passion for invention, in turn inspiring them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering or math.”
During the InvenTeams Showcase, the Beaver InvenTeam, led by Jonathan Butler, biology teacher and co-teacher of Beaver’s Engineering Design class, and Laura Nickerson, Physics teacher, FIRST Robotics coach and co-teacher of Engineering Design class at Beaver, will join a community of inventors. In addition to discussing its research and design processes and showcasing its invention, the Beaver InvenTeam will gather feedback to advance its prototype.
On Saturday, June 22, the InvenTeams will participate in closing EurekaFest activities at the Museum of Science, Boston. The Beaver InvenTeam will join more than 200 high school students from across the country, along with the general public, in hands-on invention activities.
More information about Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams is available at http://web.mit.edu/inventeams, and a detailed schedule of EurekaFest can be found at http://web.mit.edu/invent/eurekafest.html.
ABOUT BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
Beaver Country Day School is
a NEASC
accredited independent school for grades six through 12 located just
three miles west of Boston in Brookline, Mass. Beaver lies at the
forefront of education and its innovative approach to teaching empowers
students to succeed in today's constantly changing world. Beaver’s
teachers inspire and enable students to contribute to society and take
action based on their passions and beliefs. Through engaging projects
and lessons, Beaver has cultivated a fearless commitment to the
educational experience and provides the best access to information.
Located on a 17-acre wooded campus in a suburban neighborhood, Beaver’s
students come from over 70 communities in and around Boston and speak 20
different languages at home. For more information please visit: www.bcdschool.org.
ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM
Celebrating innovation,
inspiring youth
The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding innovators and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.
Jerome H. Lemelson, one of U.S. history’s most prolific inventors, and his wife Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by The Lemelson Foundation and administered by the School of Engineering. The Foundation sparks, sustains and celebrates innovation and the inventive spirit. It supports projects in the U.S. and developing countries that nurture innovators and unleash invention to advance economic, social and environmentally sustainable development. To date The Lemelson Foundation has donated or committed more than U.S. $150 million in support of its mission. http://web.mit.edu/invent/
