There is huge excitement in Timahoe as two students have been crowned All-Ireland champions at the Intel Mini Scientist Exhibition.
Scoil Mhuire Fatima students Emma Burke and Tomás Ramsbottom, who are in 5th Class, claimed glory on Monday.
The pair qualified for the Grand Final after winning at the regional finals in December with their project entitled ‘Perfectly Paced’.
The Grand Final consisted of the top 26 projects across the country and the Timahoe children’s project came out on top.
This is a monumental achievement for the children considering 6,800 children from across the country took part in the competition this year.
Their journey started in October last year as their project qualified from the school exhibition.
The cousins have worked extremely hard since then to develop the project and bring it to All Ireland winning standard.
The project is all about pacemakers and looks at how they can be charged by using wireless technology and kinetic energy.
The inspiration for the project came about due to the fact that Tomás has a pacemaker since he was a baby.
Emma said: “Pacemaker batteries need to be changed every 7 to 10 years so if Tomás lives until he is 80, he will have to undergo another 10 major operations.
“He has already had four major operations by the age of 10.”
Tomás is keen to make a change for the better. He said: “Surely in this day and age, a rechargeable battery would be better than a replacement battery.
“The aim of our project is to design a suitable way of charging pacemaker batteries so that people don’t need to undergo major surgery.”
The children carried out extensive research and spoke with wireless technology experts in Silicone Valley to design a suitable alternative.
“Tightly coupled inductive charging and RF energy harvesting are two methods of wireless charging that we could use” according to Emma.
Tomás added that “kinetic energy is also an option for us and we really want to develop this idea”.
Principal Michael McEvoy was delighted with the success.
He said: “I’m thrilled for Tomás and Emma. This is a really difficult competition to win so we are extremely proud of them.
“We won the competition in 2015 and 2016 but have found it very difficult to win since then. The standard is just so high.
“The judges were blown away with the project and the children’s presentation so they deserve huge credit.
“We hope this success story inspires the rest of the children in the school.”
The event was attended by Neil Philip, Vice President of Intel and Minister of State Thomas Byrne who praised Intel for their commitment to Irish Education.
Photographer Marc O’Sullivan captured some brilliant images which you can see above and below:
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