An article titled “Young Inventor Competition 2020/2021” featured in the Vol 49 Nov 2021 edition of the “Hong Kong Engineer” journal by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.
Young Inventor Competition 2020/2021
By Mr James C T HO
The Young Inventor Competition (YIC) is an annual event co-organised by the MC Division (of the HKIE), the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Hong Kong Branch, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Hong Kong Section, under the technical guidance of Ir Lo Kok-keung, to promote mechanical engineering among secondary school students in Hong Kong.
Participating teams are required to design, engineer, and produce their own engineering product in accordance with Ir Lo’s topic and rules.
Following more than a year of postponements due to COVID-19, the YIC 2020/2021 was finally held at HKIE Headquarters on 14 August 2021.
Group photo of Ir Lo Kok-keung (left 3rd), Ir Lui Kam-leung (right 1st), Ir Kathy Cheng (left 2nd) and Ir K O Ng (left 1st) together with the champion team
Ten teams comprising a total of 50 students from seven secondary schools around Hong Kong participated in the competition. The topic this year was “Hovercraft”, for which students had to build a battery-powered hovercraft to travel at least six metres and strike targets.
Ir Lui Kam-leung, the MC Division Chairman; Ir Kathy Cheng, the IMechE Hong Kong Branch China Sub-committee Chairlady; and Ir K O Ng, the ASME Hong Kong Section Chairman; joined Ir Lo to inaugurate the competition.
The ten teams came up with very different designs, from using recycled materials such as food containers, to using a 3D printed hull.
Six out of the ten teams successfully completed the six-metre course. The lightest and fastest of the hovercrafts weighed only 57 g and completed the six-metre dash in a blistering 2.26 s.
The winning team and first runner-up were both from the SPHRC Kung Yik She Secondary School. The second runner-up was from CCC Kwei Wah Shan College.
“Hong Kong Engineer” is the official journal of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE). This monthly journal covers in-depth articles on engineering topics and up-to-date news about HKIE activities.
