What do you get when you bring in a diverse group of inventors and provide them with the means to bring their ideas to life? Qualcomm’s Why Wait Invent-Off is what, and it’s all thanks to a partnership between invention company Qualcomm and the well known tech blog Gizmodo.
Inventions, we use them every day but rarely think about the person/s
who made them possible, their struggles, thought processes, their
stories. With the rising popularity of reality contest shows such
as ScyFy’s FaceOff and Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, inventors are
finally getting their time to shine in the limelight.
Qualcomm’s Invent-Off is a six episode web series that follows two groups of four inventors (each consisting of an engineer, an artist, a college student, and a high-school student) as they compete against each other to see who can come up with the best invention.
Photo Credit: Qualcomm.com
According to Qualcomm, each team must create something using an Arduino Yún board with integrated Qualcomm wireless connectivity that will be able to communicate with a Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered device such as a smartphone, tablet, or smartwatch. The teams are also given things like speakers, wheels, duct tape, and LEGO pieces.
You understood all that, right? For those who didn’t, like myself, they’re going to give a bunch of inventors who know things a bunch of nifty stuff and see which team can build the cooler thing.
Hosted by Jason Silva who also hosts National Geographic’s show Brain Games, Invent-Off is unlike other reality type contest shows. Why Wait Invent-Off will have an interactive element with viewers who can vote on a new requirement, send a lifeline, and even provide technical help such as coding.
Why Wait Invent-Off’s host Jason Silva
At the end of the series, the two team’s inventions will face a three-judge panel. The winning invention’s team will receive $5,000, be profiled on Gizmodo.com, and an all-expense paid trip to CES (The International Consumer Electronics Show) 2016 in Las Vegas where they will get to display their invention in the Qualcomm booth.
Photo Credit: cesweb.org
Qualcomm’s Why Wait Invent-Off premiered on July 20th and you can watch the episodes by clicking here.
We can’t wait to see what these clever teams come up with.
Sources: Qualcomm, CES.
