Rootstown middle school student invents anti-car-theft device

A Rootstown seventh grader who invented a device to prevent vehicle theft is a finalist in an online competition to bring the device to market.

Ava-Elizabeth Bell, a student at Rootstown Middle School, is one of three finalists in the "Why Didn't I Think of That?" contest sponsored by the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation. If she wins, she will be able to work with a coach to produce a full-scale working prototype and advance her invention.

Voting is open until Feb. 14 at ipoef.org/innovation-contest.

"I need all the votes I can get," she said.

The invention

Ava-Elizabeth, the daughter of Valerie Cubon-Bell and Seth Bell, invented a device called OCT-D: Defense for Your Car. It makes a car's windshield opaque, making it impossible to see in or out until the car is started.

The device also has a secondary security measure that sends a message to the owner via an app asking if they started the car. If they owner says yes, the windshield becomes clear, allowing the car to be driven.

Ava-Elizabeth said the device would prevent not only thieves from driving a stolen car, but also "smash and grab" robberies, because the thieves wouldn't be able to see what's inside the car. The coating also would keep the interior of the car cooler in the summer months and could be used to promote a business when the car isn't being driven.

Ava-Elizabeth said a cousin had textbooks stolen from his car when he was a student at Ohio State University.

Early beginnings

Ava-Elizabeth said she started her project in fourth grade as a school project and has refined it many times since.

"When I started this in fourth grade, it wasn't like this at all," she said.

She said she was inspired by the defense mechanisms of an octopus, which can change its skin color to camouflage itself or eject ink to scare away predators. At first, her idea was to scare car thieves away by ejecting ink at them, but she quickly learned this would be messy and could potentially backfire on a car owner.

Then, she started to focus on obscuring the front window to make it impossible to drive unless the key is engaged.

Ava-Elizabeth now has a poster board presentation outlining her invention and the pros and cons of different theft prevention devices. She uses a Barbie vehicle as the current prototype of her invention, obscuring the front window unless a button on top of the car is pushed, showing the dolls inside.

She competed on the statewide, national and global levels of the Invention Convention as a fifth grader. In 2022, she competed again and won first place in national competition and third place in global competition. She also has been to the statehouse three times for National Kid Inventors Day, most recently last month.

She has now applied for a patent for her invention, thanks to the competitions. The CEO of Safelite, a windshield provider and repair service based in Columbus, has also reached out to her.

Why didn't I think of that?

After the 2022 competitions, Ava-Elizabeth found out about the IPOEF competition.

Entries were judged by a review board of executives from companies and law firms with expertise in intellectual property, business strategy and innovation. The panel selected 11 finalists representing three age categories.

Ava-Elizabeth is competing in the 12 and younger category. One of her fellow finalists is a Columbus girl who invented a device to sort food waste from other trash at cafeterias, allowing the food to be composted instead of going to the landfill. The other finalist, a California girl, invented a device to allow musicians to rosin the bows of their stringed instrument with a contraption that fits on their finger.

If Ava wins the online competition, she will get to work with a coach, who will help her produce a full-scale working prototype and help her advance her invention.

She is now promoting the competition through an online flyer with a QR code that can be scanned to allow for easier voting.

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Rootstown girl finalist in inventor contest for anti-car-theft device