PETROPAVLOVSK – A student’s invention exhibited during the international science and technology forum “How Children See EXPO 2017” has drawn the attention of an American company.
Oleg Lilo, an eighth-grade student from the North Kazakhstan region, won first place in the forum’s aerospace engineering, aviation and astronautics category with his homemade model of a scientific research laboratory he called The Moon.
“This is a remote-controlled device which is able to move along a surface of any degree of complexity while scanning rocks and making a video. It is equipped with sensors and a laser security system. In short, it is a complete model of the spacecraft. The main innovation I used is a laser used to collect and transmit information, unlike the usual radio used on modern devices. The range of radio transmitting sets is tightly packed, but for the laser this is not a problem,” explained Lilo.
According to the young inventor, information is collected by the host computer, which processes the data and then transmits it to Earth. The mobile laboratory is equipped with a generator that produces energy. After a special receiver gets a laser signal from Earth, the device starts to heat bringing the generator into action.
The device is designed for collecting comprehensive information about climate and atmospheric conditions on the Moon as well as its internal structure.
The invention attracted the attention of one of the judges, a design engineer representing an American company at the forum. He suggested that Lilo sell the patent in order to create mobile toys.
“The Americans want to create smart toys based on this device. They believe they will be in huge demand. However, the talks remained inconclusive, as the boy has no patent on his invention yet,” said Aleksei Zeiner, head of the hobby group at Kolosovskaya High School, where Lilo is a student.
According to Zeiner, almost all of Lilo’s mobile laboratory was made by the boy’s own hands. The Moon is made of plastic, foam plastic, fibreglass and aluminium. The radio system it uses was purchased through the sponsorship of the Novotroitskoe company.
With the help of his teacher, Lilo is going to patent his innovation and begin negotiations with the Americans. Zeiner has headed the Kolosovskaya High School hobby group, which Lilo is a member of, for the past 10 years. His students are frequent participants in various science and technology exhibitions. The Moon is the group’s sixth victory at a national competition.
