10 teams left in invention contest

Wharton junior Derek Zoch wants to improve football practice.

And for Zoch, a kicker for the Quakers, that means spending the last few months putting the final touches on Quicker Kicker, a mechanical football holder that allows players to practice kicking a football as they would in a live game.

A motivating force behind the creation? Winning Pennvention, an annual competition for student inventors.

Zoch is one of 10 finalists in the competition, all competing for the grand prize: $5,000 in cash.

And with less than three weeks left until the final invention fair, teams are working day and night to develop their products.

Finalist Alexander Furmansk, with his team, Ultra Slim Card & Key Holder, has produced a slim, compact holder that can hold two keys and a PennCard.

It allows one-handed access to the two things students use most around campus, thereby reducing a lot of fiddling while being "slim, sleek and professional looking," said Furmansky, a Wharton and Engineering senior.

"The main goal [of the competition] is to inspire students," said Anne Stamer, director of the Weiss Tech House, which administers the three-year-old competition.

It also aims to "take their ideas and possibly commercialize them," she said.

In the final presentation of the competition on April 6, the teams will be given 10 minutes to present their idea in front of a panel of judges representing various industries and professions.

The other eight finalist teams are: CircuMed, Fodius, imageTHIS, Innovative Protein Technologies, Lab Aide, Movement Quantifier, NexGel and Radiosonde Recovery. More information about them is available at the Weiss Tech House Web site.

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