Kids' invention show to highlight young innovators

The fifth season of Junior Edison, a scientific talent show, will debut on Shanghai Television on Saturday to show off the innovative ideas of young students from China and abroad.

Organizers said the program has became more and more international over the past five years and that this year will be no exception — there will be nine foreign competitors taking part.

The program attracted several thousand young innovators from 32 countries and regions for the mass selection round, but only 32 were selected to take part in the show.

They will compete in eight groups, with each group resulting in only one winner who will enter the semi-final round. Four will compete in the final to become the champion.

In the first episode, which will be broadcast on Saturday, audiences will meet a 10-year-old Australian boy named Yuma Soerianto, who was the youngest attendee at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference last year.

He said he decided at age 6 to start learning code because schoolwork was not a big enough challenge for him. Since then he's created six apps, which are all available in the App Store.

He brought his latest product to the show, a game enabling players to build blocks as high as possible in augmented-reality scenarios.

His competitors include 16-year-old Chinese-American Kevin Rao, who developed an intelligent doctor system that can work out treatment plans for patients suffering from lung cancer; 17-year-old Chinese competitor Wang Wenhe, who developed an exoskeleton suit that can improve the physical capabilities of human beings or help disabled people with movement; and a group of Shanghai high school students who produced socks that can protect the ankles of wearers during sport and physical exercise.

Audiences can catch the program, starting at 8:05pm this Saturday on Shanghai Television, to see who will win a place in the semi-final.

Ti Gong

Ti Gong

Ti Gong

Ti Gong