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JPL Annual Invention Challenge - 2016

On a blustery sunny day, the 2016 JPL Invention Challenge was held last Friday on the 180 Mall with more than 300 spectators and participants. This year's contest objective was to create a device that could transport water and a goldfish in a plastic cup to a water vessel located 2 meters away. The winning team would be the team that accomplished this task in the fastest time.

View event photos

A total of 20 school teams and 7 JPL teams came up with different ways to accomplish this task. The energy sources were varied such as bungee cords, electric motors, surgical tubing, springs, and gravity. The results are shown below for each team.

Entry No. JPL/School Name Team Name Run Time (seconds) Water Transferred (grams) Award
15 Oakwood School Oakwood #1 2.59 240 School - 1st
16 Oakwood School Oakwood #2 2.82 234 School - 2nd
30 Los Angeles High School Dynamic Nonagon 3.35 236 School - 3rd
17 Oakwood School Oakwood #3 3.7 236
34 Hamilton High School The Utopians 4 234 Most Unusual
29 Los Angeles High School Diamond 6.27 230
33 Hamilton High School Hero’s and Zeros 2.92 224
105 Alan DeVault Splash-O-Matic 2.65 216 JPL - 1st
111 Johannes Gross Flying Squirrel 3.2 224 JPL - 2nd
109 Kristan Ellis Good to the Last Drop 4.06 216 JPL - 3rd
9 Chaparral Middle School Mission Possible 3.27 224 Most Creative
25 Lawndale High School N.E.R.D.S. 4.54 218
32 Hamilton High School The Galaxians 4.88 210 Heaviest
11 Village Christian High School VCS Engineering Team 5.23 218
28 Temple City High School Team Rocket 5.33 222
3 Arcadia High School Absolute Value C 11.01 218
24 Lawndale High School Alpha 16.68 212
14 Walter Reed Middle School The Wolves II 9.06 182
72 Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter Hesby Oaks 1 21.06 201 Lightest
23 Lawndale High School Mesa Bardinals 6.42 172
26 Temple City High School Team Student 3.89 202
46 Culver City High School Team Peter 5.34 <170
70 Lakeside High School Mad Scientist Club - Attimi Ma 8.1 28 Most Artistic
103 Gouri Butani The Water Bobsters Did not finish
106 Trent Mathison LMUASMA Did not Run Largest
107 Kim Aaron Bucket Brigade 5.87 154 Smallest
108 Dogan Aykurt Feza Boys HS Did not Finish
101 Jose Guzman No show
110 Beylikduzu College No show

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 Kim Johansen, for collecting the entry forms and video release forms and processing more than 230 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
Amanda Garvis General Helper
Nancy Torres Assistant to organizer
Fannie Chen Assistant to organizer
Sherry Stukes Recording Secretary
Chris Landry Referee
Robert Denise Announcer
Lyn Repath-Martos Check-in
Steven Wissler Check-in
Genie Luzwick Check-in
Nvart Iskandaryan Safety
Kristine Babaian Safety
Melissa Brown Timer
Jerry Martinez Timer
Perry Ramsey Timer
Micah Jackson Timer
Patti Aubuchon Field Judge
Elham Maghsoudi Field Judge
Ken Hurst Water Filler
Phoebe Rhodes Water Filler
Kyle Edelberg Area Patroller
May Tran Area Patroller
Jules Lee Area Patroller
David Tseng Area Patroller
Ryan Mizusaki Area Patroller
Joseph Joe Set - up helper
Leslie Mullen Set - up helper
Mumin Khan Set - up helper
Matt Gentile Clean-up helper
Diana Ly Photographer
Russell Smith Photographer
Manan Ayra Photographer
Tomas Koponen Videographer
Steve Nelson 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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