Innovators from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan succeeded in passing through the first two prototyping episodes of Stars of Science, Qatar Foundation’s flagship ‘edutainment’ reality TV show on MBC4.
Under intense questioning from an expert jury, each candidate was challenged to defend the prototype they had developed. Unable to best their rival inventors, Nizar Chelly of Tunisia and Ali al-Sulaiti of Qatar weren’t able to stay in the competition, according to a press statement.
In the first prototyping episode, Sadeem Qdaisat of Jordan received top marks for GenomiQ, a device that automates the preparation of slides for genetic testing. With his automatic scoring system for taekwondo, Take One, Ghassan Yusuf of Bahrain edged out Chelly with his innovation, Canscan, a phone robotic platform auto scanner.
“I believe my advancing to the next stage in the Stars of Science competition has everything to do with the hard work I dedicated to research when the idea was still in its formative stages,” said Qdaisat.
The second episode saw Algerian Abderrahim Bourouis rise above his competitors with a prototype of Wonderkit, a smart shirt designed to soothe those affected by autism spectrum disorder. In the race for second place and a spot in the next round, Egyptian Ahmed ElKhatat triumphed over al-Sulaiti, convincing the jury with Age2o, a shower designed to support elderly users. Al-Sulaiti’s innovation is a 2D drawing to 3D models platform branded as 23D.
“Receiving positive feedback from the jury gives me so much confidence in my smart autism shirt invention, and brings me one step closer to my ultimate goal,” said Bourouis.
The final prototyping elimination will be held today, when two candidates will be selected to advance to the customer validation stage. As the show progresses, two other candidates will be eliminated, leaving four finalists who will earn a share of a $600,000 prize based on jury and public voting.
The episode will be aired at 10.30pm on MBC4.