Coming soon: A robotic nurse, a talking coin counter, a voice activated reclining wheelchair, a washing machine that recycles water and flying cars.
These are some of the inventions 50 middle school girls designed while participating in "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" in Regener Hall Saturday.
The all-day event was organized by a group of female engineering students and worked with young girls interested in the field from across the city.
Janus Herrera, a student coordinator of the event, said it is important to present the profession of engineering to young girls because they lose interest in math and science before they get to high school.
"We wanted to expose girls to what an exciting career they could have in engineering," Herrera said. "We are going to show them contributions that engineers make to make our society a better place to live."
The group of students wore turquoise "Future Engineer" T-shirts and drank juice boxes as they listened to different UNM students talk about their interests in engineering and the rewards of going to college.
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The girls were then broken up into groups of six and given bags of pipe cleaners, small boxes, toilet paper rolls, cotton balls, balloons and glue and asked to invent a product that would help people.
Desiree Kyleson, 11, and Claudia Montoya, 12, of the "Silver Hearts" group called their invention the Robo-Kid. The robot, built of balloons and boxes, does laundry and homework, vacuums and baby-sits younger siblings.
"It does all of the stuff that we don't want to do," Kyleson said.
Each group presented their creations and received praise from the coordinators for a job well done.
"I want to be a mechanical engineer because I like working with my hands and making things that can be used in the future by everyone," said Savannah Kellerson, 11, who participated in the activities.
The girls spent the afternoon learning about roller coasters and how they are designed and operated.
"There is a fascination with roller coasters with girls at this age and so we planned an activity that allows them to make their own," Herrera said.
Organizers were pleased with the outcome of the event and plan on coordinating one next year.
"If we can encourage young girls and make them excited about non-traditional career fields, then I think we have done our job," said Leslie Simmons, an engineering student volunteer.
Katie Kraye, 12, said she enjoyed the day and will tell friends about it.
The event was held in conjunction with National Engineer's Week that was Feb. 17-23.
