- [Narrator] "Make48" is funded by.

- [Announcer] Stanley Black & Decker provides tools and services around the globe to help turn great ideas into reality, and to help us shape the world we live in.

We proudly support programming that inspires invention, innovation, and hard work.

Together with "Make48", we're providing men and women the tools and resources to build a better world.

Stanley Black & Decker.

For those who make the world.

(bright music) - [Narrator] Previously on "Make48".

- [Crowd] 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

(horn blowing) (applause) (applause continues) - [Narrator] The whistle is blown.

The tools are down.

Now it's time to meet the judges.

This is "Make48".

Everyone's got a big idea.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to the national finals of "Make48".

(applause) The last 48 hours have been filled with ups and downs, with hard work, with joy, with laughter.

I didn't see too many tears, but there's been a lot of innovation going on over the last 48 hours.

Before we get the teams out, I want to introduce you to our wonderful panel of judges who are gonna have the very difficult task of selecting a winner.

The president of Mako Design and Invent, we have Kevin Mako.

Leader of DeBruce Foundation, we have Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor-Knight.

And CEO of Trident Systems, we have Rupal Thanawala.

They have an incredibly challenging task of selecting the winner out of these eight teams.

That team is gonna receive $10,000 cash prize, along with not just those $10,000, but $5,000 in design and strategy support from Mako Design and Invent.

We also have a few secret judges around that you might be able to identify because they are gonna decide the kids' choice award.

Are you guys ready to invite out our first team?

Having qualified from the Wichita Kansas event, we have Veni, Vidi, Vici.

(applause) (car engine revving) (dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) - Hello everyone, my name is Rafael.

- I'm Philippe - And we are bridging the gap.

So whenever we were presented with the idea of finding a toy, finding an idea for STEM toys, the first thing that us as engineers taught us.

Okay, let's recall about our experience during undergrad.

And one of the most remarkable one is the popsicle stick bridge challenge.

But with that idea, we thought, okay, let's think about a toy about it.

So we created Bridging The Gap.

First, you have a timer, so you have time pressure to start with.

On top of that, we added the challenge cards.

The challenge card is a card that you draw in the beginning of your game, your turn, and gonna create a challenge.

For example, reducing from five minutes to three minutes or increasing the span of the bridge.

- Besides the single player, we also created a deck for the multiplayer.

And then some examples for this kind of card is you can steal some parts from your opponenet or maybe give parts for them.

With all that said, we can always have an expansion with this, and now we're open for questions.

- Great pitch, great complexity to the product.

It looks like it has infinite possibilities.

How would you pitch this to be exciting to a kid in one or two sentences?

- I would say there is a car, there is sharks, you're gonna destroy things, it's fun.

(audience laughter and applause) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Narrator] That sounds all right.

But what if, what if we could make it more fun?

What if we could take this same beat, but like really build it?

What if we could take this and pull out every beat and hold it in our hands and learn music in a new way, from a new perspective, to physically hold a beat in your hands and be able to understand the time and total value of it.

Now we have a structure.

Towers of sound that show you, the builder, what your sound looks like.

Gig Bloks.

That sounds like fun.

- And we are the inventors of Gig Bloks.

It is a 3D sequencer that enables the music enthusiast to visualize their music, note value, and tones for whatever they're building.

- The way this is gonna work is these red blocks down here at the bottom, these indicate which instrument we're working with per column.

The black ones are where they rest.

The green ones are where they fire.

We get all the power from the base and the sound comes out of the base.

As soon as you put one of these red blocks into the bottom, red one down there it would be, place it there, you've got power in that column, you begin to stack your columns up, now you've got that instrument that's going up and you're telling it when to play by where you stack it at.

Say a five year old kid is gonna love to stack things up and then go, wow, what does my thing that I just made sound like?

- This is very interesting.

I remember playing with my kids something like this.

We used to jump on those mats and do the music.

So this is really cool, very advanced.

I would like to know how much does it cost and what are your margin, because if you want to take this to the market, how would it come out to be?

- So our base price is gonna be $78.99 for the consumer, cost to build, production is $30.

- The initial item that you would buy would be the box that includes speaker and battery power and a base level set of blocks that are all drums.

- The other thing that comes to my mind, I think if I were playing it with my kids, we might be wondering if we could save that beat.

Would there be a way for us to save that?

Because we really like that one, keep that one, now see which one's the best one that comes out of the day.

- The initial technology build is to include memory or removable memory.

(applause) - Hi, so we're the Free Wheelers.

We decided early on that we were gonna focus on children in the hospital.

And so we created Avant Lightscape, a toy that allows kids to play and learn and explore with light and color and shape.

- [Narrator] Imagine you are a child in a hospital, staying in a sterile room where you have no control over the environment.

(gentle music) The removable light panel allows kids to easily play while they stay in bed.

(gentle music continues) Avant Lightscape gives kids the ability to control their space.

(gentle music fades out) (applause) - So in addition to creating a toy that's fun and replayable and educational, we also wanted to make sure that it was something that would help them get better faster.

We did a lot of research looking at the environment of the hospital and looking at light and art and how those can help kids.

And there's a lot of studies that have been done that show that light and art can help reduce depression and anxiety and stress.

- Sure we all know someone, maybe it's you who's walked into a museum, seen a piece of modern art and thought, "hmm, I could do that".

Honestly, we think you should.

- The research and having the objectives around it, that's great.

Could you talk to us a little bit about the cost of it as well as then who's the customer?

- We suggested a retail of $79 and feel we could build this definitely between $15 and $20 in package with options potentially to upscale but keep cost minimal.

- And looking at the customer, this could be anything from a parent buying it for their kid who's either in a hospital or maybe it's at home or in the school setting, but it could also be something that hospitals have in every, like a children's hospital has it in every room.

And then the gift shop has these expansion packs.

So when their friends or family come to visit, they can bring them a pack.

- I think it might be hard for people to understand, especially when asking about your customer base and who it was gonna be.

Yeah, maybe art, maybe museums and hospitals.

But as I think about families and kids, would my have kids walk... We have walked up to that and said, "we have to have that.

We have to take that to our friend who's in the hospital."

So trying to think about that target audience and what would be the language that they would use to communicate this really cool idea that you have and your prototype is exposure.

(applause) (narrator buzzing) - [Narrator] Introducing Bee-Siege, the customizable action-packed bee launching toy.

Choose three different configurations, tre-bee-chet, bee-lista, or sting shot.

Wow.

Three in one.

Make adjustments to dial in your aim.

Explore new combination and discover new flight patterns.

Wow.

Compete against your friends or your own high score.

Explore even more with additional bug-themed kits found on our website.

1% of all Bee-Siege sales are donated to save the bees.

Bee-Siege.

Call today.

(applause) - STEM is one of the most key developmental skills that we can gain as children, but when learning it in the school, it can be difficult to grasp and even harder to engage with.

When doing it at home through STEAM, toys that are too complex or can not hold the attention of a child to create that meaningful developmental experience.

That's why we've created Bee-Siege, the three in one bee themed launcher for children 10 and up.

As engineers ourselves, we all had that toy growing up with that brought us down our pathway to where we are now.

We got to build, test, break some things along the way, but it was an engaging educational experience for the four of us.

And that became our North Star.

How can we create a toy that engages the next generation of STEAM leaders?

- And that's what brought us to design our toy, Bee-Siege.

Bee-Siege is a three in one toy that allows children to construct three unique configurations, a trebuchet, ballista, and a slingshot, or as we like to call it, the tre-bee-chet, bee-lista, and sting shot.

- And with the adaptability of all of these products, a modular interchangeable set builds itself up for add-ons and expansion packs as just a meaningful next step for our progression.

And with an almost endless list of bug themed puns, we could innovate until the cows come home.

We're Bee-Siege.

We hope you'll bee-come a part of the hive today.

Thank you.

(applause) - I must say, from somebody who runs a product design and engineering firm, in 48 hours, what you guys have built here is incredibly impressive.

That's amazing.

Now on that same strain though, let's think about the kids building this.

First of all, what age are you planning for?

And second, what do you do when they're getting frustrated in the build because they just want to get to throwing bee things?

- This toy is designed for ages 10 and up, right now, we've been working with mechanical fasteners.

After this first prototype taking some time to develop easy, adjustable, and interchangeable features like snap-ons and one to two turn connections so that we can jump from product to product or from launcher to launcher.

- Given that we've got 30 seconds left, can we see one of these things fire?

- [Presenter] Absolutely.

(applause) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (applause) - Hello.

We're the Mallorys.

We are high school educators from Indianapolis, Indiana.

According to research from San Diego State University, the number of children who hung out with a close friend nearly every day dropped 40% from the years 2000 to 2015.

And that was pre-COVID.

Additionally, research by the National Institute of Drug Abuse found that children who spend above average amounts of screen time have a higher likelihood of unhappiness.

As toy inventors, for the past 48 hours, we felt obligated to design a play experience that redirected children away from their screen time entertainment and towards socializing.

Introducing Don't Wet Your Pants.

It's a water battle strategy game that integrates the STEAM skills of fluidics, collaboration, logic, and reasoning.

- Gameplay is simple.

Players or teams take turns.

And on your turn, there's really two steps you need to do.

First, you select a tool that matches your team's color, and place it on an unclaimed valve.

At that point, you can either leave it there as a blocker, or step two, you can turn the valve to open and adjust where the water flows to fill the game board.

Play alternates between teams and players until one side's cup reaches a tipping point and they ended up with a lap full of water.

We believe at 1,000 or more units, we can manufacture this for less than $15 with a suggested retail price of $29.99.

- The final product will look very similar to what we have here, the toilet, instead of having an open bottle like this, will be clear, you'll be able to pour water right into the commode.

The pipes are all painted to look like cast-iron steel.

We do see a version in the future where they would be clear tubes, that way it would allow for marbles to run through it.

And it could be a cleaner version, not nearly as messy.

We expect that to be our number two, so we brought up.

- So we understand that the challenge was for five to 15 year olds.

Honestly, I could see my 23 and 21 year old child taking this to college with them.

And you will probably find the four of us out front playing after dinner this evening.

- I totally like any idea that would say less screen time for kids and more fun for the family.

So I really like that idea.

And of course I like how easy it is to assemble, also that it also gives them extra time for family or the kids to build something.

My question would be that how complex it is, because of course right now you have already figured it out.

It's your idea, so you know it.

How difficult it is to adapt and to learn it because you don't want messy house by the time kids are learning to play.

So how difficult it is, what do you think?

- In our play testing, we found that the first few moves felt a little awkward for people, but that I think speaks to the learning curve associated with the strategy, just like checkers or chess, you're gonna find your first couple times playing to be more about exploring the possibilities.

And then now the four of us have played many times, we've developed metagames, and it's become very competitive and exciting.

(applause) - [Narrator] Our team was excited to conceptualize, design, and fabricate the Positive Panda.

The Positive Panda is a comfort toy when a child is in the hospital and they feel isolated and alone.

There are sensors that allow the child to take their own temperature and heart rate.

While that doesn't do it, there's an electric report that is intentionally placed in the arm of the bear so that if the child gets stuck, they can stick the bear.

- Hey guys, thanks for having us here.

And thanks for letting us have the opportunity to present our Positive Panda.

We found a way we think to make being in a hospital as a kid a lot more fun, a lot easier, and a lot less hopeless - Here we have the Panda.

This can be used for children as a comfort toy while in the hospital.

Now the main component of this Panda is the screen right here.

This, even though it may look like it, is not a phone.

It is a small computer placed inside of the bear that has minimal function, but appropriate function for our target age range, which is around four to seven or eight years old.

Here we can include educational STEM-based games.

Also, there's a way of one way communication between parents, close family members, maybe even friends to encourage comfort while you were in the hospital.

- Talk to us a little bit about your price point as well as your cost.

- So we were thinking around $60 per individual bear with a price point of around $40, or with a cost of manufacture of around $40.

That's not as much of a profit margin as some of the other products we have seen online, but we're also looking at, we want to help people.

Our goal isn't to make a ton of money from this.

Well, obviously that's an added bonus.

We wanna help as many people as possible and efficient and easily.

(applause) - Qualifying in Hartford, Connecticut, we have Magic Make.

(applause) - [Narrator] Introducing Overcast, an interactive, medical, and therapeutic toy to distract your child from traumatic experiences and give them power to own their story.

They might have to undergo long periods of time in a cast or back and forth to the doctor's office, but with Overcast and its various learn and play kits, they can occupy their minds and strengthen their creativity.

- What Overcast is is effectively a neoprene sleeve with a large Velcro patch on top that allows them to play with letter toys, building blocks, tell them which bone you broke.

It also has a communication board so for children that are non-verbal or nervous to talk to people, they can point out what they're feeling, point out where they're feeling.

So it's not only a toy for the child, it's a tool for the child and the doctor and medical professionals as well.

We think we can sell this for about $39.99 for the starter kit.

That's going to include seven to $8 worth of production cost for the neoprene sleeve itself, as well as approximately one to $5 production cost for each individual play kit.

And then expansion kits could be added on too at about five to $15.

- First of all, as somebody who breaks a lot of bones, because I play ice hockey, can you sell me that prototype?

It's got a lot of features and a lot of unique elements for expansion.

You guys have thought of a whole bunch of ideas here.

Have you thought of a way to simplify it so that it could be one unit that fits a lot of different sizes, maybe arms and legs, or do you want to have a whole bunch of different versions that are perfect made to fit for those types of broken bones?

- So we're definitely not looking for a custom fit in any way, shape, or form, but you do make a great point for legs as well because people spend a lot of time in leg immobilizers, it might be something fun for them.

So it would be nice to have a leg option in various sizes because children to teenagers are very different sizes.

(applause) - My name is Tim and I'm part of My Three Sons.

And you're probably asking, well, why is your name called My Three Sons?

Because we are his three sons, even though we may not look like it, but we are.

With that, I want to introduce to you Space Ed.

- [Narrator] First there was Jeff Bezos, then there was Elon Musk.

Now we have Brooks Gray with Space Ed.

Comes with two launchers, four rockets, pressure gauge, wind chimes, angle adjustment gauge, target stand with a unique balloon attachment clip.

Kids learn how to calculate trajectory by adjusting pressure and angle.

(group cheering) (applause) - So Space Ed is an educational air-powered rocket launcher with target kit.

You're probably asking, well, how is this educational?

Space Ed teaches us the basic concepts of trajectory and physics.

The retail cost of Space Ed is currently $59.99 with an estimated manufacturing cost of $18.58.

And you're probably asking, well, what's different than any other stomp rocket out in the market?

What differentiates us is basically this clip is designed.

- So you're right now targeting 12 to 15 year old age group.

Have you thought about making it a little bit simpler so that younger kids can also do something and learn about it?

- Yeah, so we created the trajectory chart to make it pretty simple.

Our pressure gauge shows in PSI.

For a final product, we would make it more simple where it would be low, medium, high.

- So now given that we only have 30 seconds left, can the judges try this?

- Absolutely.

(applause) - [Rupal] One, two, three.

(group cheering) - Let's give a round of applause for all of the teams.

We've seen a wide variety of teams from different parts of the country, different walks of life, different levels of experience, and not a single team failed.

I mean, there's a lot of ups and downs this weekend, right?

But everyone had a prototype up here.

Everybody was able to present.

And everyone I think came up with something pretty innovative.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] On the next episode of "Make48", the judges deliberate the products.

- And the prototype was exquisite.

I mean in 48 hours, they built not only what we see in front of us, but the other ways that it could be configured.

- [Narrator] And $10,000 is awarded to the winner.

(applause) - So in first place, the winners of $10,000 in cash.

- [Narrator] "Make48" is funded by.

- [Announcer] Stanley Black & Decker provides tools and services around the globe to help turn great ideas into reality, and to help us shape the world we live in.

We proudly support programming that inspires invention, innovation, and hard work.

Together with "Make48", we're providing men and women the tools and resources to build a better world.

Stanley Black & Decker, for those who make the world.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] To learn more about the invention process, and to get to know the teams, visit make48.com.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music fades out) (gentle music) (soft music) (upbeat music)