Portland Community College this month advanced two teams to the InventOR Collegiate Challenge semifinals. Both teams have a high-tech solution to a common problem.
Team Wifi Ball was inspired by the lives of busy adults who take kids to parks, forget to bring sports equipment and try to multitask to get work done while the kiddos play. They've come up with a freestanding vending machine that will rent sports equipment likes balls and softball gloves while also providing high-tech services including wifi and device charging.
Wifi Ball envisions a network of sustainably powered stations at parks across Portland, modeled on the vending machines common across Asia.
PCC is also advancing Team Auns Apollo a high-tech solution for music lovers that would create ear buds made from recycled plastic that would come complete with voice technology, Bluetooth, and storage capability, solving problems associated with being out of cell range and being tethered to your phone.
The Apollo Earbuds will enter the $4 billion headphone market as a social enterprise, with a percentage of sales going to scholarships for DACA recipients and to support the Don’t Shoot PDX movement.
We look forward to seeing prototypes of these initiatives at InventOR!