Creative maker challenge competition: Rack brains for 48 hours to make “creative idea” into “reality”

Last weekend, the first session of WKU 48-hour Creator Challenge Competition was hosted by WKU Career Development Center. 46 students in 10 groups from all grades and majors were required to make their “creative idea” into “reality” under the guide of mentors themed on “Meng”(Chinese term, literally “sprout”,  now extend as a slang term for “cute” ) within 48 hours.

At 8:30 of Saturday, challenge competition began after Philip Connelly, executive vice chancellor of WKU, delivered a short speech.

The competition is comprised of brain storm, project making and road show. In the afternoon of 28, reporters came to the competition site – WKU maker space. The maker space was equipped with several 3D cutter, 3D printer, micro: bit, creation particle suite and other creative making equipment. Two nights before the official game, competitors received pre-competition training and learned to use those equipment and basic skills to win competition.

Tension can be smelled in the air. After the brain storm in the morning, all groups had formed preliminary “creative idea”. “Fun in toilet” was a smart WC interactive device. “An induction device is installed so that the indicator on the toilet door will light up when the toilet paper is less than certain amount.” Niu Zhennan, a sophomore majored in International Economy and Trade, introduced the creative idea of his group. In addition, this creative idea would also realize time alert function to alert the user after using for 15 minutes.

The “Meng” creative ideas raised by students surprised Xia Qing, one of the judges and co-founder of Mushroom Cloud Hacker Space. “It’s the first time for most of the students to experience creative maker. But their creative ideas show that they are very good at observing surrounding matters and getting creative ideas from them.” As a senior maker in domestic creative maker circles, Xia Qing considered that the key for creative maker was the ability to analyze and solve problems. “The essence of creative maker lies in the courage to explore, scientific methods and innovative spirit.”

At last, the judges conducted comprehensive assessment on competition works based on their creativity, completeness, technical difficulties, teamwork and other aspects. The work “Enjoyable office” took the first place and won RMB 2,000.

This activity was aimed to provide WKUers with access to maker culture and explore their innovativeness and entrepreneurial competence; meanwhile, to introduce innovative and practical ideas into maker space, keep improving and transfer them into products.