Taiwanese inventors nabbed six special prizes and 42 gold, 34 silver and five bronze medals on Friday at the 39th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland.
From the practical to the outright imaginative, the 86 Taiwanese participants impressed foreign observers as they showcased their ideas.
Among the group, four students from Tucheng Junior High School modified a crossbow to shoot bolts consecutively like a gun. The group won a special prize for teenagers that was sponsored by Russia, becoming the youngest winners in this year’s competition. Another invention, designed by Kun Shan University’s Lu Chun-lin (盧春林), allows a person to wake up in the morning and make coffee by speaking commands to the machine. The coffee maker has built-in voice recognition technology. Lu won a special prize sponsored by Romania.
Photo: CNA
A portable urine collector, developed by Taiwan Adventist Hospital’s cardiovascular surgeon Yuan Ming-chi (袁明琦), will help the elderly and those suffering from urinary incontinence shed their dependence on adult diapers. For inventing something so practical, Yuan won a gold medal at the exhibition.
An idea by Chung Hwa University professor Juang Ying-shen (莊英慎) also won kudos at the show. She created changeable heels for high-heeled shoes that offer options to install a heel that resembles the Eiffel tower or Taipei 101. She also has mahjong and chess piece heels.
The largest commuter newspaper in Geneva’s French--speaking community, 20 Minutes, ran a half-page article about her stylish -invention on Thursday.
Hsieh Fa-dah (謝發達), Taiwan’s representative to Switzerland, also presented five special prizes to participants from other countries at the award ceremony on Friday.
The 86 Taiwanese participants came from 15 schools and 14 enterprises. They showcased their inventions along with more than 750 exhibitors from 45 countries. The show ran from Wednesday to today.
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