Doha: Audiences in the Arab world witnessed young innovators defend their prototypes to stave off elimination in the second engineering round of Stars of Science, Qatar Foundation’s (QF) “edutainment reality” programme on MBC4.
Walaa Aniba of Tunisia and Rania Bou Jaoudeh of Lebanon progressed to the design stage, knocking out Ahmad Kurdi of Saudi Arabia and Ousama Dghaish of Jordan.
Stars of Science, in its sixth season, pits innovators against each other in a competition to turn their ideas into reality. Twelve candidates aged 18 to 30 come to Doha to be mentored by world-class engineering and design experts at Qatar Science & Technology Park.
The innovators’ resilience, ingenuity and teamwork are tested in challenges throughout the show as they develop inventions from concept to commercialisation to win funding for their projects.
During the engineering stage, the candidates were tasked with turning creative idea into a working prototype.
Episode 6 featured Walaa’s smart headphones and Ahmad’s pool warning system.
The smart headphones use sensors to monitor and analyse external sounds to stop music automatically when any risk is detected, while the pool warning system alerts owners of unintended and possibly dangerous use.
The other two projects, Ousama’s car refuelling tester and Rania’s automatic zucchini corer, focused on making existing tasks easier. The tester monitors the quality of petrol in an automobile’s gas tank, and the corer is an ergonomic machine that reduces the time and effort spent preparing a common staple of Arab cuisine.
After weeks of tinkering and testing, the young men and women faced a jury, who judged based on prototype performance (50 percent), product outlook (30 percent) and the resourcefulness and leadership shown by the candidate (20 percent). In the engineering round, innovators with the two highest scores moved on while the candidates with the two lowest scores were eliminated.
The perennial jurors for the engineering stage were Youssif Abdulrahman Al Salhi, General Manager, Qatar Shell Research and Technology Center, and Dr Fouad Mrad, Executive Director, United Nations ESCWA regional technology centre.
Stars of Science welcomed VIP jury member Suneet Singh Tuli, who as co-founder and CEO of DataWind, designed the world’s most affordable tablet computer to increase access to computing and the Internet.
Dr Mrad questioned the effectiveness of Ahmad’s project, asking if normal pool use would set off his alarm. Tuli tried on Walaa’s smart headphones and was satisfied when he heard how sudden, unexpected noises paused the music playback.
Rania impressed the jury with the functionality of her corer, which performed flawlessly. She also got high marks for being persistent and tenacious despite experiencing setbacks throughout the engineering stage. Ousama gave a spirited defence of the reliability of his tester and made a case for his inclusion in the design round.
The announcements of the final verdict prompted celebration by Rania and Walaa, overjoyed to make it to the design stage. Inaccuracies in Ahmad and Ousama’s prototype testing turned out to be a decisive factor in the jury’s scoring, ending their SOS journey.
“I am encouraged and inspired by the way candidates have collaborated with each other and experts at QSTP throughout this competition,” noted Al Salhi. “It takes great skill, patience and teamwork to make breakthroughs and problem-solving effectively. These four bright minds have exhibited these qualities, setting a great example for young people interested in science and technology across the region.”
On the next episode on October 25 at 8:00 KSA time on MBC4, viewers will see four more candidates put their prototypes to the test to progress to the next stage.
Season 6 will culminate in a live final hosted by Khaled Al Jumaily & Haneen Al Naqdi on MBC4 on November 15 at 8pm KSA/5pm GMT 2014.
Voting from the public and the jury will determine the final outcome.
The Peninsula
