Team Heatwave!

STEM-In-Action Grant

 

We are Team Heatwave: a group of seventh grade students from West Middle School in Andover, Massachusetts. We worked together to make a prototype that has the potential to save many lives.

 

As a team, (John, Amy, Tristan, and Jocelyn) we spent weeks researching topics that would have a true impact in our community. We found that many children left in vehicles during the summer heat, even for just a few minutes, could suffer tragic results from heatstroke. As a team, we wanted to find a solution to this problem.

 

Our proposed solution was to design a device that could warn a guardian of the dangerous temperature inside the vehicle when a child was strapped in a car seat. We named our creation the Infant Saver.

The device is currently made of five components: the load cell, a temperature sensor, a buzzer, LED lights and an Arduino board. It’s programmed to sense weight in the car seat. Once weight is detected, and the surrounding environment is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the Infant Saver lights up red and buzzes. This alerts the guardian that it’s too hot for the child and could potentially save the child by preventing heatstroke and possible death.

We plan to use our STEM-in-Action Grant to improve our design to be more compact, efficient and user-friendly. We also plan to make a more effective alert system, such as an SMS text message that is automatically sent to the guardian’s phone alerting them that the child is in danger. We also plan to use the grant to make people aware of the important legislation, namely the Hot Car Act of 2017. This act will require vehicle manufactures to install safety devices in new cars to protect children.

As a team, we decided that we are going to test out a new “mother board,” which would be smaller and provide more functionality. In spring 2018, we plan to make flyers and brochures to spread the news about our device, and we hope to have an improved prototype available for testing in our community.