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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.

View event photos

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.

Entry No. School/JPL Employee Time (seconds) Comments
57 Diamond Bar High School 0.002 1st Place - Students
111 Johannes Gross 0.006 1st Place - JPL
51 Crescenta Valley High School 0.106 2nd Place - Students
108 Alan DeVault 0.198 2nd Place - JPL
61 Chaparral Middle School 0.218 3rd Place - Students Most Creative
8 Arcadia High School 0.335
70 San Marcos High School 0.34
6 Arcadia High School 0.4
13 Temple City High School 0.404
110 Cleary Wong 0.45 3rd Place - JPL
81 Village Christian School 0.655
101 Kim Aaron 0.824
109 Jose Guzman 0.832
68 Sycamore Junior HS 0.848
37 Lawndale High School 0.938
45 Los Angeles High School 1.022 Exhibition Only
1 Bell Magnet High School 1.23
40 Alexander Hamilton High School 1.414 Most Artistic
18 University High School 1.782
107 Kristan Ellis 2.5
7 Arcadia High School 3.799
17 Muskwa Club DNC
26 Synergy Kinetic Academy INC Most Unusual
43 Diamond Bar High School DNC
79 Morningside HS DNC
14 Temple City High School DNC
38 Alexander Hamilton High School DNC
105 Cleary Wong DQ left contest area
102 Richard Goldstein DQ didn’t travel distance
103 Jon Nelson Withdrew
104 Andy Etters Withdrew
16 Lakeside High School Withdrew

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.

Name Position
Paul MacNeal Organizer
George Tsiligiannis General Helper
David Breda Assistant to organizer
Jessica Creamer Assistant to organizer
Sherry Stukes Recording Secretary
Anusha Yarlagadda Recording Secretary
Chris Landry Referee
Robert Denise Announcer
Kristen MacNeal Badging Helper
Lyn Repath-Martos Check-in
Steven Wissler Check-in
Rashmi Arjunan Check-in
T Nilawat Safety
Ezra Abrahamy Safety
Melissa Vick Timer - lead
Megan Fazio Timer
Mark Hemlinger Timer
Phoebe Sulzen Timer
Kirstie Belmonte Timer
Fabien Nicaise Field Judge
Patti Aubuchon Field Judge
Bryan Mcenerney Area Patroller
Carmen Rocha Area Patroller
Liz Lambdin Area Patroller
Andres Andrade Area Patroller
Jonathan Sauder Set - up helper
Joseph Joe Set - up helper
Julie Ispirian Set - up helper
Jacqueline Sly Set - up helper
Theresea Fukuno Clean-up helper
Fred Calef Clean-up helper
Rick Ebert Photographer
Stephaney Smith Photographer
Diana Mastracci Photographer
David Tseng Videographer
Steve Nelson Judge
Pamela Huntoon Judge
Dave Taylor Judge

Contact Information

Public Services Office

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

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