Inventors with flair beat nation's brightest sparks
TUESDAY , 02 NOVEMBER 2004

By NICK CHURCHOUSE
Opunake's leading young innovators are off to Wellington to accept two national invention awards.

Shinade McKenna (13) and Jozien Hannah (13), from St Joseph's Opunake, and Jackson Arlidge (13) and Andrew Corkill (14), from Opunake High School, are headed for the Bright Sparks HiTech competition awards on November 12, to accept two first placings in the national science innovation competition. But their four-legged sidekicks that inspired the inventions – Karmakazi the rabbit and Rebel the pup – are not going to make the trip.

Rebel, a Munsterlander, was the canine guinea pig for Jackson and Andrew's winning entry, a ball-throwing machine that drops a dog biscuit when the ball is returned. The boys' machine won its category and was crowned overall winner of the junior section of the awards, which are open to all school kids around the country. The invention featured in The Daily News and attracted media interest from as far away as Germany .

In addition, the Royal Society of New Zealand has invited the two student inventors to the Realise the Dream five-day science expo of workshops, lectures and institution exhibitions in December. Jackson said if he had learned one thing from the success of their invention, it was to expect the unexpected. "I didn't think it would go this far," he said.

Karmakazi, a wild black rabbit, inspired Jozien and Shinade to create the Karmakazi Project, which beat all other entries in the junior section of their category at the science awards. The project is an electronic door opener for a rabbit hutch, designed specifically for Karmakazi to come and go, while keeping the door shut to predators and chilly Taranaki breezes. But the lucky bunny is a bit sick and would probably just run away if he was required at the awards exhibition, Jozien said. "He'd probably die of fright if he came," she said.

Andrew Hornblow, the Taranaki representative for Bright Sparks, said the projects that came from schools across the region gave kids a chance to try something creative and technical. "Kids might be just sitting there in a classroom, but you give them some electronic components and materials and they just take off – they create stuff like this," he said.

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