Inevitably, when the summer months hit we hear news stories about small children suffering harm or even death after being left inside a hot car for too long. The average number of kids who die each year in the U.S. due to vehicular heat stroke is 37. This is the tragedy that 10-year-old Bishop Curry from McKinney Texas is trying to change.
Bishop invented a device he calls “Oasis” that he hopes can prevent heatstroke deaths from happening. He came up with the idea after hearing about a six month old child who had died after being left in a hot car for hours. Rather than do nothing, Bishop was moved to take action.
His solution? The Oasis – a device that is placed on the headrest of a child’s car seat and monitors the temperature inside the car. It can also tell if the car is stopped and there is a child still in the car seat. If both those things occur, the Oasis blows cold air on the child through an internal cooling system to bring their temperature down.
Bishop also intends for the oasis to use GPS positioning and WIFI to alert the child’s parents and the authorities that a child has been left inside the vehicle.
Bishop’s dad was so impressed with his son’s invention he pitched the idea to Toyota where he works as an engineer. Toyota, in turn, gave him a chance to pitch the device at an auto safety conference in Michigan.
Bishop’s device is generating a lot of positive feedback. As of writing this article, his GoFundMe campaign has raised close to $47,000. While it may be a while before the Oasis is actually built and goes to market, you have to admire Bishop’s ingenuity and drive to help save lives.
