National Kid Inventors Day is Sunday and the Connecticut Invention Convention is celebrating by highlighting local students' incredible innovations.
When COVID-19 shut the country down last spring, inspiration struck the young inventors of Connecticut.
“My parents are both essential workers,” says Rachna Vipparla, of Milford. “And I saw how much they struggled throughout the whole pandemic, especially in the beginning.”
A senior at Milford High School, Rachna got to work on "Viru-Cleanse". It's a misting system that uses a hypochlorous solution as an easy way to sanitize. Her invention is geared towards use in grocery stores, airports, shipping centers, schools, and even homes.
“When someone walks by the invention, a motion detection is triggered,” Vipparla said. “And that sets off the misting system.”
Sixth grader Kymel Kinsler was also inspired to lend a hand during the ongoing pandemic.
“A lot of people are getting sick because of COVID-19,” Kinsler said. “And a lot of them ended up in the hospital and I wanted to do something to prevent most of the spread.”
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Kymel's "Protecti-Wear" is a hooded jacket that keeps personal protective gear, such as masks, disposable gloves, and hand sanitizer easily accessible.
While COVID-19 forced the Connecticut Invention Convention to pivot to a virtual platform last spring, Executive Director Carol Scully couldn't be more proud of how students are handling the changes.
“I think our program helps them concretely address those anxieties and those problems arising from a strange school year,” Scully said. “And applying it to something that’s really incredibly creative and could be useful to the entire world someday.”
“With just having a kid inventors day, a lot of students may get inspired by other kids' inventions and I think that’s really great,” Vipparla said.
If you have a student interested in inventing, visit the Invention Convention website here.
