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Volume 5, Wednesday April 15th, 2009
Local National Finalist
Local youngster Ryan Worby is off to Canberra for his solar tracking skylight invention
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ules, the Light Source Identifier (LSI) and the Roxby Downs high school student has said Ryan was the second Roxby Downs student all potential buyers of my product. “People may want to buy my product to save Mirror Assembly. become one of 28 Australian finalists in to win the Canberra trip. In 2004 Michael Burger went to the national capital to further his idea of on electricity or care about the climate because The LSI, as the name suggests, finds the best Questacon’s Invention Convention.
Ryan Worby, 15, has won an all-expenses paid week in Canberra for coming up with an invention for a solar tracking skylight. The Canberra convention will involve the 28 young inventors of a week of learning how to convert their ideas into business plans. It involves mentoring, intellectual property, scoping studies, sourcing materials. It will also be a week of socialising, fun and visiting national places of interest. One of these will be the National Museum of Australia run by Questacon, an independent, science promotion organisation which encourages bright kids to take up science which it does by school visits and general mentoring. Questacon visited the Roxby Downs Area School last year. The science master of RDAS, Shane Hodgson,
a machine that placed golf balls on tees on the driving range. “I knew Ryan was a tinkerer because he’s really into the robotics course we run here,” Mr Hodgson said. “He’s always interested in different things and how they work and I guess he’s just a deep thinker.” Ryan said he came up with the idea sitting in the back of the car on long trips. His invention idea is an active version of a sky light that would seek out the best possible light source. “The inspiration of my idea was the global warming crisis and a skylight,” Ryan said. “People who are worried about - or at least want to help - with climate change, or like to try new things or just want to save on money - are
Birdlife aplenty at Bedourie
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s the floodwaters slowly dry up in western Queensland one of the best places to check out the glorious birdlife is near the tiny town of Bedourie way out west with a population of 120. The photo of the black and while birds was taken in Eyre Creek, The white birds are egrets and the elegant black ones, ibis. The other photos were taken on a sandhill on the southern side of town.
unlike normal skylights my product will search for the best light source available, making it more efficient. Ryan’s mother Kerry Worby said she was proud and excited for him. “It’s his first big adventure by himself and it should be an excellent eye-opener for him in Canberra getting to visit national scientific establishments,” Kerry said. Ryan’s father, Mike, a production systems administrator at OD said it was “great” that Ryan had won the spot in Canberra. He said they hadn’t pushed Ryan at all and he was into electronics and liked it. Ryan has his own computer/electronics corner in the home office/workroom on Olympic Way Ryan said his product will consist of two mod-
possible light source using an array of light dependant resistors & a microprocessor that determine where the sun is in relation to the LSI and tell the Mirror Assembly to move appropriately.” The Mirror Assembly will then activate motors to adjust the direction and angle of the mirror. This would reflect the light down the piping into a convex lens to diffuse the light to spread it evenly. Ryan then listed the products he would need to make a prototype, which he is planning to do. He sees his product as a competitor to existing skylights. He has made a CAD model on Pro Desktop 8.