EV's e-loading machine wins nat'l inventors' contest

PALO, LEYTE, Philippines — The triumph of Eastern Visayas’ entry, the Smart e-loading machine, at the National Invention Contest and Exhibits (NICE) held recently at the SMX Convention Center of the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, is a big boost to the inventors of the region.

This was the statement of DOST-Region 8 Director Edgardo Esperancilla who said that the NICE was conducted in line with the department’s celebration of the 2012 National Science and Technology Week.

The NICE was a contest where all first place winners from the Regional Inventions Contest and Exhibits in the different regions of the country vie for national awards in various categories, he said.

The main feature of the celebration was the National Invention Contest among talented Filipinos in six categories – the Outstanding Invention (Tuklas Award), Outstanding Utility Model, Outstanding Industrial Design, Outstanding Creative Research (Likha Award); and Outstanding Student Creative Research (Sibol Award) for High School and College levels.

Esperancilla said NICE provides support to Filipino inventors by bringing their inventions/innovations for public and appreciation and possible commercialization prospects. It serves as venue to stimulate and encourage inventiveness and ingenuity of the Filipino youth and other interested sectors of society, he said.

There were 63 entries from different regions of the country entered in different categories for this year’s NICE, he said.

The Smart E-Loading Machine, invented by then Samar State University (Catbalogan City, Samar) students Remnan Piczon and Jason Arroyo, now BS ECE graduates, was the official entry of Region 8 for the Sibol Award – College Level Category. They bagged three awards for the category from three award-giving bodies.

The Smart E-Loading Machine won 2nd place and a cash prize of P3,000 from the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. It also won 2nd prize of P25,000 for Outstanding Student Research from Undersecretary for Science and Technology Services Fortunato Dela Peña.

It further won 1st prize with a P50,000 cash award from the Philippine Development Alternatives Foundation.

The Smart Loading Machine, which is a do-it-yourself cellphone loading machine, eliminates errors and load wastage because all information are keyed in by the customer himself or herself. It was first conceptualized in 2009 and become a thesis project of Piczon and Arroyo who, together with project adviser Engr. Mirador Labrador, received SSU funding support to enhanced the project.

The enhancement included expansion of its capabilities such as accommodating other networks, a database system, a printer for transactions/receipt, a bill acceptor and other features.

The university is now in the process of coming-up with a business plan to fully exploit the project. An Intellectual Property protection has been submitted to IPO-Phil (Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines) in 2011. – THE FREEMAN