Freshmen Dragons Get Gold at International Exhibition for Young Inventors

by Emily Liu (Grade 9)

The International Exhibition for Young Inventors, known as IEYI, is a national-level invention competition in Taiwan that encourages students to turn creative ideas into real, working projects. Students from across Taiwan compete. The goal is not only to win awards, but to learn how to think like inventors, engineers, and presenters by solving real problems through design, technology, and teamwork.

My team competed in the middle school division. There were three of us, and each person had a clear and important role. Zoe focused on 3D modeling and the physical design of our system. Justin worked on the coding and system logic that allowed the invention to function properly. I was responsible for writing the report, organizing the ideas into clear explanations, and presenting our project to the judges. Even though we procrastinated a lot at the beginning and spent many class periods just trying to think of an idea, we ended up working in a very balanced way because each person contributed their own strength to the final project and winning gold.

Our project began in a very unproductive way. For nearly four class periods that were each about three hours long, my team and I sat together trying to come up with an idea. We talked about many random topics and went home without making any real progress. The breakthrough came in a very unexpected way. I started talking about how I was going to eat barbecue during the Mid Autumn Festival, and our teacher suddenly suggested that we invent something related to barbecuing. At the time, it felt like a joke and a very random idea, but it ended up becoming the foundation of our entire project.

We decided to create a system that assists people while they are barbecuing rather than replacing them. The target audience for our invention was anyone who does not have much experience with grilling. The system was designed to remind users when to flip their food, tell them when it is done, and warn them if the grill temperature becomes dangerous. This connected directly to the Disaster Management and Safety category because it focused on preventing fires and reducing the risk of food safety problems.

The reason we chose this idea was because barbecuing is very popular in Taiwan, especially during holidays and social gatherings. However, it can be dangerous if not done properly. High temperatures can lead to fires, and undercooked meat can cause stomach problems or food poisoning. Overcooked meat can also produce harmful substances if people are exposed to them too often. Our goal was not to take away the human experience of cooking, but to assist people so they could feel more confident and safe while grilling their own food.

The system itself combined several technologies. We used cameras to monitor the grill and observe the appearance and color of the food. This helped the system estimate whether the food was close to being done. We also included temperature sensors to measure how hot the grill was. The system had different modes depending on the heat level.

For example, if the grill temperature was very high, the outside of the food might look cooked while the inside was still raw. In that case, the system adjusted its judgment standard and required the outside to appear darker before confirming that the food was done. For beef, we also included a flip count system to track how many times the meat had been turned over, which helped improve accuracy. All the UI in our invention is shown through the screen in our lovely giraffe.

Our idea of making our project look like a giraffe was actually really random, we were originally just going to leave it white, but then we realized that the neck looked long and ultimately we just spray painted it in a giraffe pattern.

In the final two weeks before the competition, our procrastination caught up with us. We rushed to finish building, testing, and preparing our presentation. We only truly completed everything the day before the competition. Even though it was extremely stressful, it also forced us to work closely together and trust each other’s roles.

On the competition day, we arrived in the morning and set up our booth. Judges began coming almost immediately. Each team only had about two minutes per judge. That time included both the presentation and the questions. This meant we had to speak clearly, quickly, and confidently. There were different types of judges, so we had to repeat our presentation many times, each time focusing on different aspects such as creativity, function, and marketing potential.

We had to present in both Chinese and English. For me, presenting in Chinese was especially difficult because I am more comfortable using English. I relied heavily on my script and practiced it repeatedly until I had completely memorized it and could literally do it in my sleep.

For the English presentation, I mostly improvised and spoke more naturally. I actually enjoyed talking to the English judges the most because it felt more like a real conversation. Some judges were very friendly and smiled while listening, which made me feel more relaxed. Others were very serious and did not show much expression, which made it hard to tell what they were thinking. This made the experience more intense because every presentation felt like it could go either very well or very badly.

After the judging ended around midday, the exhibition reopened in the afternoon for visitors and other students. Many local school students came to our booth and asked a lot of questions. Some of their questions were even harder to answer than the judges’ questions, which surprised me. This part of the day felt more social and interactive, and it helped me realize how important it is to explain technical ideas in a simple way that anyone can understand.

The award ceremony in the afternoon was the most nerve wracking moment. The organizers announced the bronze and silver winners first through a group message. If your team name did not appear, it meant you either won gold or did not win anything at all.

We waited for almost an hour without knowing the result. I was convinced we were going to leave with nothing. When they finally announced that we had won gold, I was shocked and incredibly happy. All the stress, rushing, and doubt suddenly felt worth it. Even though I was disappointed that I did not win the English presentation prize, which hurt my pride a little, the overall experience still felt like a huge achievement.

Looking back, the competition was both overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. There were moments when I felt like the entire project was pointless and moments when I felt extremely proud of what we had created. In the end, IEYI was not just about the medal. It was about learning how to turn a random idea into a real system, how to work with a team under pressure, and how to stand in front of strangers and explain something you built from nothing.