Surbhika Rastogi
element14, an Avnet community, has announced the winners of its most recent community challenge, encouraging female engineers to create an electronic project video in the style of the increasingly popular element14 Presents series.
The Grand Prize winner is Surbhika Rastogi from Uttar Pradesh, India, who created an informative video for making an automatic soap/sanitizer dispenser system. In the video, Rastogi talked through how she used an Arduino UNO, IR sensor and pump made with bottle caps and a motor lifted from an RC car, to make this innovative dispensing system that offers a contact-free way to reduce the spread of germs during the pandemic.
Other winners represent a wide array of experience, skillsets and geographies, ranging from women with PhDs and Masters Degrees to those who are self-taught designers. Their videos include directions for a light up “cycling shrug” by a costume designer from western Missouri to help cyclists stand out on the road at night, a robot vacuum created by a college student in Sydney, Australia and a smartboard alarm created by a master’s student in northern Italy that signals when food is about to expire.
“The one thing this diverse and global group of women has in common is that the vast majority are young engineers,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “If you want to see what the future of women in engineering might look like, we have a snapshot right now. These are women who want to change the world and are using electronics to do it. We’re so happy to have a chance to celebrate them and look forward to many of them joining the element14 Community as video content producers in the future.”
Everyone who participated in this challenge is eligible to become a paid content producer for the element14 Community and contribute to the series of element14 Presents videos shared every Wednesday and Friday.
Launched during Women’s History Month in March, the contest sought to highlight female designers and engineers creating innovative works. Each of the top ten winners received $500 for their submissions, and the Grand Prize winner received a digital camera kit for producing high-quality videos worth $1,800.
element14 is part of Farnell, the global multi-channel distributor of electronic components, and an Avnet company, which helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.
Visit the element14 website to see the full list of winners, and learn more about element14 Presents.