Disclaimer: This Inside South Florida segment is sponsored by Toshiba NSTA Explora Vision. All opinions and views are of the advertiser and does not reflect the same of WSFL-TV.
A sock that corrects the way you walk. A robot that eliminates the need for agricultural pesticides. A treatment that regenerates heart tissue after a heart attack. These are just a few of the ideas young students brought to life at this year's Toshiba ExploraVision Awards.
Mr. Fascinate Justin Shaifer, host of the podcast Curiosity Theory, joined Inside South Florida from the National Press Club alongside some of this year's winners to discuss the competition and its impact on the next generation of innovators.
"Toshiba ExploraVision Challenge is the world's largest K through 12 science competition. It's unlike any other. It helps young students expand their imaginations, explore their interests in science, technology, engineering, and math, and solve problems that will be future problems in ten years. I mean, they learn about STEM. They have fun. How much better could it be?" Shaifer said.
This year's competition drew more than 6,000 student submissions. Among the top honorees were Bug Bites, a bug-based robot designed to prevent the use of agricultural pesticides, and Sin Cardio, a project focused on regenerating heart cell tissue after heart attacks.
One of this year's award-winning projects, the Smart Sock, stood out for its potential medical applications. The student winners behind the invention described how it works.
"Our invention is called the Smart Sock. It is a sock that goes up to the knee and detects the way you walk. When it analyzes your gait, it sees if you have a problem with the way you're walking and it corrects it. It can also detect neurologic conditions, improve balance, reduce falls, and prevent diabetic foot ulcers. It uses smart fabric that inflates and deflates to find the best correction for your problem," the award winners said.
The inspiration for the Smart Sock came from a personal experience with injury.
"Our inspiration for our project was, I have a lot of soccer teammates that are getting hurt, and they had to miss a lot of soccer games and practices. So I said there could be something that could help them assess their problem before it progresses into something way larger," the award winners said.
Shaifer said competitions like ExploraVision do more than reward good ideas, they shape the future workforce.
"These young students envision themselves building the future, and then they grow up. They become researchers, innovators, pioneers, the movers and shakers in society that we need. It's so important to have projects like this because kids like this can have confidence moving forward," Shaifer said.
More information is available at exploravision.org or by following Toshiba ExploraVision America on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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