A 12-year-old Auckland student is the brains behind a pram that generates its own electricity as its wheels turn to heat a cup of coffee or a baby's bottle of milk.
The Heat-O-Pram was invented by Jurgens Denysschen who came up with the idea while on a trip to the park with his mum and baby sister.
"We couldn't stay because the bottle for the baby would get too cold and we'd have to go home," he says.
Jurgens, a pupil at Glenfield Intermediate School on the North Shore, realised the idea would also be a perfect way for his mum to keep her coffee warm while out on morning walks with friends.
He entered the concept in the first Energy Quest competition.
It was run by children's television show Let's Get Inventin' and Genesis Energy to get children thinking about alternative energy sources.
Jurgens' idea was picked as the winner out of nationwide entries that included a guinea pig-powered pencil sharpener and a poo-powered quad-mobile.
The Let's Get Inventin' team built the first model of the Heat-O-Pram, which needed a special generator imported from Germany.
Jurgens says he was nervous and excited to see how the pram turned out and it was "pretty close" to what he imagined.
Genesis Energy Schoolgen educator Rob Duff says the idea shows Jurgens has an inventive mind.
"He's seen something in the real world that has got a potential solution to it. It's simple elements combined in a unique way."
The Heat-O-Pram will feature on an episode of Let's Get Inventin' later this year.
Executive producer Luke Nola says the invention shows that anything is possible.
"New Zealand has got a really neat history of inventors and it's good to see kids are carrying that on."
- North Shore Times
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