Costa Rica's Got Talent

Young inventors gain honors at Intel's engineering exposition

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 209

Some 56 students or teams of students from ninth to 12th year brought their creations to the ExpoINGENIERÍA which is run by the Intel Corp.

The five top projects have the chance to compete in January to attend the Intel Science and Engineering Fair in the United States.

The top creation was by three students from the Colegio Técnico Profesional Don Bosco: Melina Jiménez Porras, Angie Marín Acuña and Maylín Valverde Torres. They developed a system for ambulances so that the emergency technician can consult with physicians while en route with a patient. This is an informational software system that uses a cell phone. Information can be exchanged between the hospital and the ambulance.

The winner in the electrical engineering category was José Miguel González of the same school who developed a machine that prints in braille.

In the electromechanical category,  Luis Gerardo León Vega of the Colegio José María Gutiérrez in Guanacaste was the winner for an intelligent device or robot that can help persons with disabilities. The robot can interpret facial movements or eye movements as commands.

Two students from the Colegio Vocacional Monseñor Sanabria, de Desamparados, Picado Ureña and Bryan Herrera Piñar, took the mechanical engineering category with a device that can be used in a gasoline station that captures the evaporated fuel from the air and condenses it for reuse. The device has an environmental benefit as well as a financial one.

In the final top category, the winners were Ana Victoria Solís García and Karen Zúñiga Calvo of the Colegio Técnico Profesional Don Bosco, who created a tiara-like device that is worn on the head.  Head movements can control a computer like a desktop mouse.

There were a host of other winners in various categories.