National Inventors Day

Danielle Boyer developed Skobots, an Indigenous language learning robot, in just two weeks. The 3D-printed robots are a free and customizable shoulder accessory that help teach students traditional languages in the absence of native speakers. As a young inventor, she designed the prototype with the help of her mentors — Dr. Joshuaa Allison-Burbank, a speech…

Joshua Vanderpool, a graduate student in Biomedical Engineering at Oregon Health & Science University, was inspired to improve the function of traditional crutches after seeing his friend Ildar Fazulyanov break his foot. Illustration from Joshua Vanderpool and Ildar Fazulyanov’s patent for the hands-free crutch device. Fazulyanov, who is also an inventor-entrepreneur, spent several months in…

Lesly Rojas was inspired to become an inventor by the power of human-centered design. Through the invention education programs of Oregon MESA and Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams (LMIT), she helped design a range of inventions — from a simple prosthetic arm and an adaptive cup for people with dysphagia, to a device to help agriculturalMore

(Courtesy of Lisa Fryklund/Licensed by Society for Science) What can we learn from ants when it comes to detecting food allergens? Well, if ants’ antennae can pick up the chemical compounds emitted by food, couldn’t we train an electronic device to detect specific allergens?This realization spurred Samvith Mahadevan, a seventh-grader from Austin, Texas, to develop…

Josh Siegel was trying to modify a car he bought when he discovered a problem. Unlike his ‘55 Chevy with its straightforward hardware, the computer system of the contemporary vehicle prevented him from making changes.  With some reverse engineering and car restoration experience, Siegel built a way to “digitally hotrod” his car. The result? CARduino,…

After witnessing healthcare inequalities in her home country of Ghana and parts of the U.S., Mercy Asiedu dedicated herself to solving women’s health issues. While researching for her PhD, she decided to focus on cervical cancer – a disease that is highly preventable with early screening.  The Callascope, a low-cost, imaging device for self-cervical cancer…

(Photo by David Kelly Crow/Princeton Engineering) Andrea Goldsmith has transformed the way the world communicates, enhancing the technology that makes modern tentpoles like Wi-Fi, video streaming, and widespread cellular networks possible. As the holder of 38 patents, Goldsmith is both an inventor and entrepreneurial leader. She is best known for developing Adaptive Beamforming for Multi-Antenna…

(USPTO) Audrey Sherman considers science and invention a team sport. As 3M’s top female patent holder, she is named on 150 patents, 148 of which she co-invented.Of her inventions, her favorite is a Command hook for the shower and bath. When 3M was looking for an adhesive that could hold objects in soapy and wet…