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Cleveland triplets working to change the world, one invention at a time

All three of the fifth graders have received awards for their inventions

CLEVELAND — They are siblings with an eye for invention and dreams of changing the world.

Atidya, Nakshatra and Shashini Mohan are in 5th grade at Cleveland’s Menlo Park Academy, but don’t let their age fool you... These students are already creating high-tech gadgets to make help the world and help you.

For Sashini, the idea to create an interactive water sensor came from home. 

“I got the idea when my mom was telling my sister to stop wasting water when she was taking a shower,” she says. 

After researching the water crisis known as “Day Zero” in South Africa she got to work designing a creation that she calls Kiwasi, that helps you monitor water consumption in the shower, with visual reminder and countdown

“So, at first, at five minutes, it says hurry up and take a shower, five minutes to go and shows a picture of a fish in a fish tank and the fish tank is filled up,” says Shashini. 

As time ticks down, so does the water level in the tank, until the virtual fish is left high and dry. “After nine minutes it says, ‘Save me, save me, one minute to go’ and then it shows the fish but it’s dead because you didn’t save the water, but if you did save water it says, ‘Save water, save life, lets change the world.’”

Speaking of helping others, Atidya’s Parking Spy uses radio technology to keep people from parking illegally. “In my school there was an announcement that people who weren't disabled were parking in the disabled spaces… so I wanted to make this invention,” he says.

The creation uses RFID tags that would be embedded in license plates or cars to sense if a car can park in a certain space or not.

“If it’s authorized, there will be a welcome message on the LCD display, but if its unauthorized, then there’s going to be a warning message, saying if they don’t back out in a few seconds an alarm will go off,” says Atidya. “If they don’t go out the alarm will go off and they’ll get a ticket.” He adds the system would be useful to police departments because it would help monitor a common problem, without the need for added manpower.

Nakshatra also set out to find a solution to a common and mind-numbingly annoying problem – who has the right of way when cars arrive at a four-way stop at the same time, so she created the All Way Stop Assistant. 

“I’ve always been afraid of accidents, she says.  “One time saw it happen in front of my own eyes, so I thought I may want to prevent it.”

The system uses lasers to monitor the roads and tell driver’s when it’s safe to drive. Nakshatra says her system is an alternative to a traffic light, with a much smaller price tag. “The other invention like mine I found was a stop light and those are a lot of money, it costs around $280 to make and I would sell it for $320.”

All three siblings were invited to show their conventions at the Ohio State House in Columbus this week as part of the Ohio Invention Convention & Entrepreneurship Expo where they received commendations for their creations.

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