Young inventor keeps innovation in the family

Wang Ziren from Anshan in Liaoning province won second prize at a national youth science and technology innovation competition on Aug 22.

The award was the most recent of the many he has received for inventions and creations.

His prize-winning product is a device with an electronic scanning pen and a card slot to help blind people in China learn the Braille alphabet unaided.

Now in the sixth grade in primary school, Wang is a "senior" inventor with six patents. He started inventing at the age of seven, and his first invention was a device that helped bedridden patients drink.

"When he visited a patient in hospital, he saw a bed-bound patient struggling to drink and wanted to help," his father Wang Bing recalled.

When he got home from the hospital, young Wang came up with an idea for a drinking device with a thin straw that could prevent patients from choking, and later turned the design into reality.

Since the first grade of primary school, Wang Ziren has learned robot making and programming, and taken part in numerous domestic and overseas robot competitions. At the 2013 RoboCup Junior held in the Netherlands, for example, he won a gold award for robot dance design.

The 12-year-old's enthusiasm for invention is very much in the genes, as his father and grandfather are both keen inventors and innovators.

The three generations of Wangs have so far been granted more than 200 patents. Although most of the patents belong to the boy's 82-year-old grandfather Wang Chunyan, the youngest of the family of inventors has dreamt up most of the original ideas.

Wang Chunyan is a retired professor at the Liaoning University of Science and Technology. He owns nearly 200 patents, including eight invention patents, and is still inventing. He has participated in some 20 scientific research projects and won a State-level science and technology progress award and four provincial science awards.

Wang Bing, the father, works at a local court. His three patents - a shoe heater, automatic temperature control heated shoes and mattress - have already been commercialized. The latter two are widely used by the military, local fire brigades and police stations.

"When I was a child, I came up with inventions too, only I didn't have the extraordinary access to information that my son now has," said Wang Bing. "I learned things from my father and books about inventing."

Domestic and foreign websites about science and technology and patents, as well as the ability to search for and find information and accept advanced technologies from his grandfather have all had a great impact on Wang Ziren.

Wang Ziren and his grandfather often read about patented projects and scientific achievements online, so the internet brings more advanced technical resources to the boy, rather than negative information and influences, his father said.

Wang Ziren's knowledge about robot technology, such as programming, infrared sensing and wireless signal transmission, has also contributed to the success of his grandfather's large invention programs.

"Invention and creation is an important motivation for me to learn and make progress," said Wang Ziren.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/24/2016 page17)