HKU Faculty of Engineering organizes the "Invention for Schools Contest"

Do you know that a computer can just cost you a few hundred dollars, and it can be as small as a credit card? Computers do not have to be big or expensive. A wide range of small and cheap computers are available. These small, credit card-sized computers allow students to learn the basics of computer programming and electronics, and make their own electronic devices easily. School children all over the world, such as US, UK and Taiwan, are actively learning how to code and DIY their invention with these credit card-sized computers.

The "Invention for Schools Contest" is organized by the Faculty of Engineering with the support of HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund. Over a hundred students from primary 2 to secondary 5 joined the competition. They are required to use credit card-sized computers to make inventions that would be useful to their schools. A series of talks were conducted in October to December 2015 to enhance the participants' understanding of credit card-sized computers, such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino.

The participants were interested in learning how to program or interface with the credit card-sized computers. "I would like to build an intelligent school", one of the participants said. A primary school teacher mentioned that he found students were interested in using Arduino when they joined the Sea Level Measurement Device Design Competition organized by the Faculty of Engineering last year. "I hope to introduce these credit card-sized computers to my students. This is the trend of the world", he said.

The participants will submit their inventions in May 2016. Let's stay tuned to see their inventions.

The "Invention for Schools Contest" is under the "Programming Creations for Schools” project led by Professor Francis Lau, funded by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund, and supported by RS Components Ltd. For more details about the competition, please visit the event website or Facebook.