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JPL Annual Invention Challenge - 2018

Under overcast skies on a wonderful day in December the 20th Anniversary of the JPL Invention Challenge was held on December 14th.

A crowd of around 400 people were able to watch the event and admire all of the wonderful entries into this year’s challenging contest. The official results are attached. Please look for photos on this site soon.

I wish to thank everyone who entered and participated in this year’s contest. A special recognition goes out to the three teams from Ethiopia and the team from Guam that flew all the way around the world to compete in this contest. The Upright Pipe Contest proved to be a challenge. Of the 83 student teams that signed up, only 57 participated in the regional contest. Of those 57 teams only 19 actually completed the task and received a time. That shows how difficult the challenge was. Similar results were found for the JPL teams.

I also wish to thank all of the volunteers 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 300 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.

As always I look forward to the contest for next year.

View event photos
Entry # School Name Team Name Time (secs) Award
003 Diamond Bar High School DBQ Sauce 35.80 Most Unusual
006 Santa Monica High School Vikingx DQ - Contact with device Largest
007 Santa Monica High School The Heavy Lifters 2.75
015 Arcadia High School Absolute Value C 2.60
019 Oakwood School Oakwood #1 1.37 Student - 1st
020 Oakwood School Oakwood #2 2.13
021 Oakwood School Oakwood #3 5.54
029 South East High School W.I.S. Did not compete
032 Alexander Hamilton High School We Made IT 1.59 Student - 2nd
033 Alexander Hamilton High School Triangle Chompers 3.85
034 Alexander Hamilton High School Mark 13 6.35 Most Creative
035 South Pasadena High School log_rhythm 4.63 Most Artistic
038 Oxford Academy Team #1 2.35
043 Temple City High School Team A 9.25
044 Temple City High School Team B DQ - Did not complete task Heaviest
046 Heart of Los Angeles Green Mario No show
060 Taft Charter High School Taft Toreadors DQ - Contact with device
062 Los Angeles High School Oakwood #1 2.34
064 Los Angeles High School WILD CATS 1.67 Student - 3rd
082 Walnut High School Walnut 4.48
101 Leo Cheng Amphritrite Robotics Design 16.60
102 Kim Aaron Withdrew
103 Richard Goldstein 4.65 JPL - 3rd
104 Ria Dawar 4.00 JPL - 2nd
105 Kristan Ellis 13.45
106 Paul MacNeal / Dogan Aykut Withdrew
107 Austin DeShong DQ - Did not complete task Lightest and Smallest
108 Jose Guzman 25.90
109 Hikmet Giray Ethiopian Free Fall DQ - Contact with device
110 Yasin Giray Robot Lucy (Ethiopia) DQ - not balanced
111 Yasin Giray Abyssinian Inventors (Ethiopia) DQ - Contact with device
113 Miriam Cruz No show
114 Scott Nolte 2.38 JPL - 1st
115 Zhen Wu Withdrew
116 John Wright DQ - Did not complete task
111 Cleary Wong Cata Throw Withdrew

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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