This year, we had over 1000 young people share their awesome projects in our online showcase!
Our judges, Fig O’Reilly, James Whelton, Melissa Pickering, and Colin Furze, have chosen their favourites — let us know what yours are!
What were Fig’s favourites?
Fig O’Reilly is an engineer, an Irish–American model, and a beauty pageant titleholder. Fig recently made history as the first woman of colour to represent Ireland at the international Miss Universe pageant. Fig is now a NASA Datanaut, working within the agency’s Open Innovation program, which is comprised of engineers and scientists who engage with NASA’s open data to create new thinking, processes, and products.
FUN FACT: In 2020, Fig was named an Ambassador for Engineers Ireland!
Here’s what Fig had to say about the importance of imagination in digital making:
“Getting creative with technology means being able to use your imagination, and using your skill set. So, as long as you have those two things, you’re going to be absolutely fantastic!”
These are the projects that Fig chose as her favourites from this year’s online showcase!
Anti-touching Face Cap for Covid-19 by Sonali, Lina, and Samiksha
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, doctors advised us to maintain social distance and not to touch our nose, eyes, and mouth because this helps to spread the virus more rapidly. If a person wears this cap and tries to touch their face unnecessarily, the cap alerts the person not to touch their face.”
Coolest Minecraft Mod by Colvin
“My Minecraft Mod, which I’ve worked on for months, has over 1000 Mod elements that add multiple new features into the game of Minecraft.”
Pen and Paper Puzzles by Harry and Anna
“Pen and Paper Puzzles has lots of fun puzzle generators and challenges to challenge your brain!”
Mars Rover Simulator by Althafazrais
“This is a game that is based on a real story, about a NASA mission to Mars that used an Atlas V rocket to carry a Mars rover named Perseverance. In this game, the player can understand why the mission to Mars is very important, the player can control the mission, and help Perseverance try to survive in Mars’ harsh environment.”
Gaze-Controlled Keyboard by Pradnyan
“The Gaze-Controlled Keyboard is a project in which we can control the keyboard with our eyes by using Python with Opencv. This technology only requires a colour camera and can be integrated into existing camera-equipped devices.”
Give Me That ENERGY!! by Kayleigh and Kaitlyn
“Our aim was to create a digital form of our school’s wellbeing program and this app is a reliable resource for anyone that may wish to use it. It will give the user the ability to have our ENERGY program on hand at any time, and provide resources to ‘pave a pathway to positive wellbeing’.”
You can explore all of this year’s projects in our showcase gallery.
This year’s Coolest Projects online showcase wouldn’t be possible without the support of our sponsors — thank you!
