Last fall, the Bromfield Invention Club was awarded a $7,200 grant by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lemelson-MIT Program to develop a protoype of an invention the team calls an “aPod.” The grant will fund the club’s efforts to design, build, and develop the prototype, which they will present for competition in May. The nine-member team consists of juniors Jon Fricchione, Adam Katcher, Jesse Wolf, and John Gill; sophomores Greg Wenger, Sam Peisch, Conner MacKenzie, and Caleb Frost; and freshman Mac Devlin.
“The idea is an iPod-sized device, designed for people with Alzheimer’s and others suffering from memory loss,” explained Fricchione. “It will aid those with memory problems by reminding them of daily tasks” such as taking medication and checking in with physicians. “Right now we’re trying to create an interface that’s simple for our audience to use,” says Fricchione. “We don’t want those who use it to get frustrated with the product.”
The Lemelson-MIT Program was created in 2002 and has previously financed such inventions as a watermelon-ripeness evaluator, a portable smoke detector designed for the deaf, a sidewalk heating system, and even a robotic tennis ball retriever. “[The idea of the program is] to excite high school students about the rewarding process of identifying a problem or need, brainstorming solutions, and working hands on to develop an invention prototype,” the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams brochure explains.
The aspiring inventors competed against various invention clubs, teams, and classes from public, private, and vocational schools and succeeded in placing among 37 finalists. The Bromfield School team was one of 20 to receive a grant. The students will be able to use the grant money for all of the research and materials that they need to construct the aPod prototype.
The team will be hard at work until their competition in May. “We’re in the process of brainstorming [right now],” Fricchione said. The prize for winning the final competition in May is a patent application for whatever invention the students decide to create, which Fricchione believes will be their original idea of the aPod.