Meet the Team 

Our 2017-2018 Invent Girls consisted of a group of 23 Latinas from San Fernando High School. Over the course of the program, they worked diligently on creating a product that would improve indoor air quality for low-income families.

The early stages of their research led them to discover that indoor air quality is often worse than outdoor air quality. The Invent Girls separated into two groups and created two different projects. Both teams were coached through a two-week lesson that was part of a Coursera course titled, The Arduino Platform and C Programming.

The Projects

Team 1

Indoor air pollutants released into the home by gas stoves (nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and formaldehyde (HCHO) which can exacerbate various respiratory and other health ailments. Most low-income families use gas stoves and are not aware that their range hood (if they have one) may not be as effective at removing the pollutants being released into their home. This team decided to create a product that would detect the levels of pollutants in the air, and when these exceed the safety standards, notify the homeowner via a mobile app as well as the local authorities. The girls designed the product using SolidWorks and also developed a mobile app. In addition to detecting the levels of pollutants in the air, the product included a vacuum that would purify the pollutants in the air if the sensor signaled dangerous levels were found in the home.

Team 2

Indoor air pollutants contribute to the increased number of health issues like asthma and severe allergies, which is especially true for low-income communities where families do not have access to affordable vent cleaning or air purifying systems. This team decided to create an affordable product that would clean air vents. The team used SolidWorks to design their product and is also learned how to code in order to program their robot.