JPL Annual Invention Challenge - 2014

To all school teams, JPL Teams, and Volunteers -

On a pleasant overcast day, the 2014 JPL Invention Challenge was held last Friday on the 180 Mall with more than 250 spectators and participants. This year's contest objective was to create a device that can move a billiard ball at least 5 meters from the starting point using three or more different modes of transportation and then have the ball initiate a portion of the device that makes an audible sound exactly 20 seconds after starting. The winner will be the team whose device complies with all of the rules and completes the task closest to 20 seconds.

A total of 20 school teams and 8 JPL teams came up with different ways to accomplish this task. The energy sources were varied such as conveyor belts, leaf blowers, motorized cars, springs, and gravity. This year's challenge was difficult with only 21 of the teams completing the task. The results are shown below for each team

My congratulations go out to everyone who worked on this challenging problem.

In January, a series of photographs will be posted on the site, and a few DVD copies of the video may be made available.

I wish to thank all of the volunteers (listed below) that put on the show. Without their help, the event would not have been possible. A special thanks goes out to Kim Lievense and her Public Services team, headed by Roni Dash, for collecting the entry forms and video release forms and processing more than 200 student badges for all of the student teams. I also wish to acknowledge the talented work performed by Robert Denise for being the master of ceremonies during the contest.

4800 Oak Grove Drive
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mail Stop 126-347
Located in Building 126-336
Pasadena, CA 91109

Paul MacNeal
paul.d.macneal@jpl.nasa.gov
Phone: (818) 354-7824