Two Comstock students are using their heads to develop a hat that could capture energy from the sun, and then use that energy to keep warm when the sun isn’t around.
Aiden Wall and Crosby Taylor, 6th graders at Comstock STEM Academy, developed their idea of a “Solar Sunroof” with the idea of helping to give some warmth to homeless people by using the energy from the sun to charge batteries which would power warming units to give extra warmth to the hat when the sun isn’t shining.
Their idea was initially developed for
Western Michigan University’s “Innovation Day,” where students from around the area present innovative ideas to others, but staff at the school thought that the idea was worth submitting to
Samsung’s “Solve for Tomorrow” contest as well. The idea was selected as one of five finalists in the state of Michigan. Samsung unveiled the 50 state winners on January 3rd, and the Comstock students’ idea was chosen as the Michigan winner.
As winners in this contest, the students have earned a $20,000 prize package for their school, including Samsung technology and classroom resources. The students will be working on a project video which must be submitted in order to move on to the next round of competition. Online voters will select ten of the 50 state winners who will earn a $50,000 prize package for their school and a trip to present their idea to judges in April.
See Aiden and Crosby discuss their project at the end of November, 2018: