Young Minds Innovate to fight Covid-19 at NXP’s Young Innovator Design Challenge 2020

NXP India conducted the second season of its annual flagship event, ‘YOUNG INNOVATOR DESIGN CHALLENGE 2020’. The second season of the Young Innovator Design Challenge was crafted specifically for the school children to provide them with an opportunity to learn and imbibe the knowledge and passion for electronics and software, while encouraging them to innovate around this year’s theme  - ‘Let’s Fight COVID19 together’.

The event kickstarted in August 2020 and saw participation of around 100 children across four NXP India sites (Noida, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad), belonging to Standards 6^th – 12^th, who came up with different innovative ideas and product demonstrations  to fight Covid19 and help the society at large. These children were mentored and guided by NXP Technical experts through their journey in this event, and got excellent initial insights on electronics and software ecosystem aspects.

Enthusiastic young minds thought about practical solutions that can help combat this pandemic and developed prototypes using NXP provided Microbit kits. In the Junior category (6^th to 8^th  grade), Swapneel Dey was awarded with the first prize for creating a prototype ‘The Robotic Ultra-Violet Light Box’ or ‘TRU-VIOLIBO’ that utilizes low-frequency UV-C rays from a tube lamp that emits these rays and kills the coronavirus.

In the senior category (9^th to 12^th), Akshat Sharma was presented with the first prize for his unique innovation ‘CORONABOT’, a robot that keeps you updated on your body vitals while keeping a check on your temperature, health of your lungs etc. and uploads the data on cloud that one can retrieve anytime including seamless integration with voice controlled Alexa.

The event also saw a Youngest Innovator  Kshitij Goel, a class 4^th ,  9 years old child, who bagged Special Jury Innovation Award as well as Audience Choice award in junior category. He came up with a breathing device ‘Sanjeevani’, an automated bag valve mask that can act as a provisional ventilator machine to help people suffering from actuate respiratory disease like COVID-19.

While congratulating the winners, Sanjay Gupta, Vice President and India Country Manager, NXP Semiconductors said, “Free spirited and trailblazers in the field of engineering, these kids have showcased their capabilities in contributing to the social welfare during such unprecedented times. It is amazing for us to witness and assist young minds in developing technology for a better future. Under the guidance from NXP technical experts and blessings of their parents, the participants exhibited some of the finest ideas that could help us fight the pandemic and help the society at large”.

In his keynote address Lars Reger, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, NXP said ‘’It is imperative that we direct our knowledge of science and technology for the collective good of the society during such unprecedented times. NXP has always been  focused to drive innovation at the core for the future in collaboration with Industry, Academia, and Society. This Young Innovator Design Challenge is in the same league  to help children in developing demonstratable ideas that can be leveraged for the public good’’.

After five long months, post rigorous scrutiny and filtering at each round, 13 children  were shortlisted for the grand finale and were invited to present live demos of their prototypes to the external jury. At the Grand finale, all the children did an excellent presentation, live demo and responded well to interactive Q&A session with our esteemed panel of Judges from Industry and Academia and it was highly appreciated and recognized. The final evaluation criteria was based on overall confidence on idea, novelty, market relevance, demonstration, time management and impactful communication. The eager contestants were then evaluated and finally 8 children  emerged victorious under multiple categories. Industry experts Prof. P.V. Madhusudhan Rao, IIT Delhi; Dr Ramesh Babu, Senior VP & Head – NIIT Technologies Ltd; Dr. Shivani Malhotra, Prof. & Dean Chitkara University; Vivek Tyagi, Business Leader, IESA Board member; Subind Kumar, VP, Content Solutions Group, Western Digital; UttamKumar N, Founder & MD, Elveego Circuits Pvt. Ltd.; Srinivas Kota, Chief Scientist, CSIR Chennai Centre; Dr. Satya Gupta, CEO Seedeyas Innovations, Chairman IESA were invited as members of the esteemed jury for the grand finale.

NXP India, the largest R&D center of NXP Semiconductors Pvt. Ltd. with over 2000 high tech employees across India, is an employee focused organization driving and supporting the innovation from the forefront in the country. The objective of such events is to challenge the young minds to expand their creative ability and lay the foundation stone for tomorrow while assisting in the fight against calamities such as the current unprecendented Covid19 health crisis. These events will open plethora of options in front of our next generation and will drive their interest towards the field of engineering, creating innovative solutions for our existing problems such as Covid-19 and eventually leading to a well-equipped innovative workforce in the country.