Bitten by the invention bug
Eleven inventions: Jonas Wanke from Adlershof discovered his passion for programming at the ‘Jugend forscht’ science competition
He builds soap usage reminder facilities and makes dogs glow in the dark: Jonas Wanke is only 19 years old and an avid inventor. An Adlershof native, he has competed in Germany’s most famous junior science competition, ‘Jugend forscht,’ for the eighth time. The regional competition for Berlin South has been taking place at the Technology Park Adlershof since 2010. His invention DOSUAS – Symphonie des Sehens, which Jonas Wanke developed with one of his classmates, won a special prize at the national competition in 2018.
The award ceremony of the 2018 national competition was probably one of the highlights of his career, Jonas Wanke remembers. For over an hour, he and his teammate had wriggled about on their chairs while the names of the winners were gradually read out. Finally, it was their turn and they heard their project’s name. ‘That was an incredible moment. To hear your name and receive the Konrad Zuse Youth Award for Computer Science,’ he says excitedly. This moment can be regarded as the pinnacle of an impressive ‘Jugend forscht’ career that began in Adlershof eight years earlier.
Jonas Wanke was 10 years old when he handed in his first idea to ‘Jugend forscht’. His first invention was a light device for public bathrooms – the ‘soap usage reminder facility,’ which was based on an idea his mother had. This was followed by ten other projects, including a smart letterbox for pensioners, a black board wiping system (2011), an oil barrier with wave protection to contain oil spills in the ocean after sea damage (2013), and a luminating GPS-equipped dog harness (‘Light your dog’) to make dogs better visible at night (2017).
‘Light Your Dog was one of my favourite projects,’ says the Adlershof native. ‘We developed a sophisticated harness that luminated in three different directions. Colour and blinking pattern could be set using an app. Developing that app was incredibly hard.’ His efforts were rewarded with third place in the state-level competition. Only a year later, he received a special prize for DOSUAS in the national-level competition. DOSUAS is an orientation aid for blind people that turns 3D images into acoustic signals. ‘This works through a 3D camera that is attached to a headband. Every pixel of these images is analysed in terms of distance. The closer something is, the louder the signal given out by DOSUAS,’ says Jonas Wanke. This creates an acoustic ‘map’ to help blind people find their destinations in unfamiliar environments.
Just one-and-a-half years after this fantastic success, Jonas Wanke is now in his third term of an IT systems engineering course at Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, where he develops apps and deals with software architecture. ‘My interests focus on programming and developing mobile apps for Android,’ says the student. After university, he plans on founding a start-up or working for a large software company – maybe even in his hometown Adlershof.
On 25 and 26 February 2020, the Science and Technology Park Adlershof will host the ‘Jugend forscht’ regional competition Berlin South for the ninth time. Many entrepreneurs and researchers on the site are ‘Jugend forscht’ alumni and support the competition as supervisors, jurors, and award sponsors.
By Nora Lessing for Adlershof Journal
- www.adlershof.de/jugend-forscht/ (in German)