August 8 2019: NXP India one of the largest design centers for NXP Semiconductors  recently hopsted the ‘YOUNG INNOVATOR DESIGN CHALLENGE 2019’ across its 3 centres in Noida, Bangalore and Hyderabad. It was crafted specifically for the children of NXP employees, to provide them with an opportunity to learn and imbibe the knowledge and passion for electronics and software.
The event saw the participation of 115+ students across India, belonging to the 6th – 12th standard, who were then invited for the training session at the NXP campus. During the session, the young minds were mentored by the experts about the NXP based Microbit kits and the challenge was to convert the innovative ideas into working prototypes using the Microbit Kits.
After two months, post rigorous scrutiny and filtering at the each round, 30 children were shortlisted for the grand finale and were invited to present live demos of their prototypes to the external jury. The eager contestants were evaluated on their confidence, overall understanding of the concept, final demos , presentation and communication skills and finally 15 students emerged victorious under multiple categories. There were eminent industry experts who were invited as member of the jury for the grand finale.
Innovative prototypes:
With lot of enthusiasm, kids exhibited some marvelous prototypes such as Smart ROBO car ( 1st prize) , a juvenile tracker device, automated pet feeder, food freshness detector and many more. The story behind these innovative ideas are equally interesting. For Reetam Chowdhury from Hyderabad, who won second prize for creating a water flow sensor says he came up with his idea because his grandmother used to check for water in taps every five minutes.