In the city, there is constantly litter scattered on the sidewalks and streets. Although there are quite a few trash cans placed on every block, some people still seem to put no effort whatsoever into getting rid of their trash. Obviously not everyone litters, but even a few people can create a big pileup.  Some people like to throw their trash at trash cans, and hope for the best, or simply drop their trash no matter where they are. This is a problem. Litter can very much hurt the earth. Many different objects that are thrown on the ground everyday contain toxic material that does harm to our planet. Litter can hurt important ecosystems and contaminate groundwater that runs off into the ocean. It also costs state and federal governments millions of dollars to pick up litter. This is not money we need to be spending. Litter is also very dangerous to us. It can cause accidents on the road, and cause injuries on the sidewalk. This is not necessary and can be stopped easily.

Our project, The Layup is an attachment to trash cans that can help eliminate litter and also limit the amount of rainwater collected in trash cans. It is a very useful object because many cities have a standard trash cans that has a wide opening at the top. Our project will be able to attach to these types of trash cans. This is key because there is quite a bit of litter in cities, and having this attachment around will make the streets cleaner. When you attach The Layup to the top of a trash can with a large opening at the top, you will see right away why it will helps eliminate litter. We have created a funnel system, with a backboard and basketball hoop over it to create a much more fun way to throw away your trash. In the funnel, we engraved a spiral that helps to guide rainwater out of the trash can. Our project raises an important question about rainwater. If there is any easy way to stop water from getting into the trash can, then how can we find a way to capture this water and put it to a good cause? There are many ways that The Layup could help out the world, but there are still many littering problems we need to solve.

A new and necessary feature for child tracking devices. This feature would be an arrow on the physical tracker and the parent app that points one person to the other person. 

Over two thousand one hundred children are reported missing every single day in the United States, according to the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children. That number equates to about one child reported missing every forty one seconds. About eight hundred of these daily reports turned out to be cases of miscommunication or a situations where the child was not missing at all. There are tracking devices out there that can solve this problem. The problem with that solution is that the child cannot find their parent. That is where my feature comes in. My feature is an arrow that will point towards the parent or child (depending on the user). The arrow will always point towards the opposite party until they find each other. I created an app that simulates this feature. The app has an arrow and a map. The arrow constantly points towards set gps coordinates simulating the other party.  

   There are women all across the country and even the world who has experienced sexual harassment, being followed or made uncomfortable my creepy men. Our device is a solution to the ubiquitous problem of sexual harassment women face all over the world. 
ImPENetrable emergency bluetooth “pen” that allows you to create fake text messages/calls to one’s phone and notify the police. This device was created to it’s users feel safer in a situation where they there might be someone following them. There is also a built in pepper spray bottle. The beauty in this device is that it is disguised in an everyday object, a pen. This allows us to appeal to a bigger audience because women are not the only one who face this problem. 

     ImPENetrable will be connected to your mobile device. With one click of the pen, you are able to send a fake text message to your phone. The message will be pre-set too. This messages will come in many different forms and from different contacts as well. For example, a text can come from “Dad,” saying “I’ll be there in a minute” or the text can come from “boyfriend.” With two clicks of the pen, you’ll be able to send an instant incoming call to your phone that will act as a distraction to a person following you. Lastly, three clicks will call the police if the situation is completely out of hand. We hope that this device will help the users feel a lot safer.