TAMPA, Fla. — Walking through the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, on the USF Campus, Darren Lau from Academy at the Lakes, and Davina Horowitz, of Angeline Academy of Innovation, are truly inspired that one day, they too could be among the inductees.
Earlier this summer, they were among 70 students across the country to be honored at the RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Michigan.
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“That was so great there, I saw so many cool inventions from elementary school all the way to high school,” said Horowitz.
“You’re around all these historical inventions that have really changed the world, and it was surreal being there with my invention,” said Lau.
Both students say it was real-life experiences that fueled their ingenuity.
“When I was in 6th grade, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease,” said Horowitz. “So I started doing at home infusions and I quickly found out that I was known as a hard stick, meaning that my veins were smaller than what was considered to be normal.”
So, Davina invented a device she calls I.V. Ease, making it easier to start IVs.
“So there is near infrared light, there is heat, vibration and smell, so the smell acts like an aroma therapy to like calm yourself mentally, the near infrared lights shine on either side, to highlight the vein, acts as a vein finder,” said Horowitz.
While Lou says the idea for his invention was born when one of his best friends underwent brain surgery.
It’s called AuRING AR & AI for Brain Shift Correction.
“The basic premise is that during a lot of brain tumor neurosurgery what happens is the brain actually physically shifts and moves,” said Lau. “So what my invention does is it uses artificial intelligence to predict the location of brain tumors and communicates that to the surgeons through augmented reality glasses that way the surgeons can see the brain tumor and know exactly where it is.”
Darren and Davina are optimistic these devices will eventually be patented and readily available for use in the medical field. They hope to be a voice in the community for all those young, aspiring inventors out there.
“I definitely would say go for it, if you have an idea run with it, keep adapting and changing,” said Horowitz.
“There are so many inventors in the Tampa Bay area, and I hope that all of them will try to pursue and go for their invention and to bring it to life,” said Lau.
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