Boy wins gold in invention contest
KANGAR: A Year Six pupil has bagged an international award for his invention that solves the universal problem of feeding “home alone” cats.
Muhammad Danish Syafi Mohd Azdikirana, 12, of SRK Putra here, took home a gold medal in the World Invention Creativity Contest (WICC) held in Seoul, South Korea.
His “Solar Cat Feeder” won the competition, an invention that he made with his sister, Nur Marissa Maisara, and their friend, Amirul Haziq Mohd Shamsudin, both 11.
“My sister and I constantly had a headache to find the best way to make sure our eight cats got enough food whenever we were not at home,” Danish Syafi said.
“Thanks to my father’s idea, we managed to come up with a food box connected to an electrical circuit, a scanning device and a solar panel.
“In theory, the food box will dispense a fixed amount of food when the scanning device detects any approaching cat.
“It will have to wait for another five minutes to dispense another round of food if the same or another cat gets close to the box.”
With his invention, Danish Syafi said cat owners no longer had to worry about their pets’ wellbeing or spend money on pet hotels if they had to leave their cats for days, adding that he hoped the product would get funding to be commercialised.
He and his teacher flew to Seoul for the competition, which was held from July 20 to 30, following a RM10,000 sponsorship from Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP).
He qualified for the competition after his invention won first place in the Perlis Engineering Research and Learning Innovation Symposium (PERLIS) 3.0 two months ago.
Organised by Korea University Invention Association, WICC serves as a platform to enhance innovation and creativity skills among students worldwide.
Besides SRK Putra, Perlis delegates brought home two other gold medals through SMA Al Madrasah Al Alawiyah Ad Diniah (AlMaad) and the PERLIS 3.0 modul project.
UniMAP delegates head Associate Professor Dr Mohd Mustafa Al Bakri Abdullah said the competition involved over 400 participants from 20 countries.