The Suzhou tryout of 2019 China-US Young Maker Competition took place at Suzhou Dushu Lake Sports Center, SIP from June 16 to 17. A total of 62 teams consisting of over 200 youths from 30 schools and enterprises competed with their creative inventions, and seven teams gained the entry to the finals to be held in Beijing in July.

China-US Young Maker Competition, an annual event sponsored by the Ministry of Education of China since 2014, is aimed at offering Chinese and American youths a chance to showcase their ideas and inventions focusing on sustainability of human society, such as those for community development, education, environmental protection, health care, energy utilization and transportation. Statistics show that more than 20,000 youths have participated so far.

The event saw a diversity of novel high-tech works such as drones, robots, smart home systems and VR learning machines. The contestants were required to build and operate their works on site to demonstrate their uniqueness and advantages.

After fierce competition, the Hefei University of Technology team from East China’s Anhui province took the first place with their APM-based underwater drone, while the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University team and the Changzhou Vocational Institution of Engineering team tied for the second place with a VR speech simulator and a smart leveling rod, and the Soochow University team and China Pharmaceutical University team shared the third place with a quick fabric retrieving solution and a modularized packsack. It is noteworthy that all the second and third place winners are from East China’s Jiangsu province.