FRISCO, Texas — A cardboard box is all Lino Marrero needs to start an invention.
"I always start with the stuff I have at my house," he said. Marrero is a junior at Frisco High School and an award-winning student inventor.
He recently ranked as a champion at the National STEM Festival for his creation, The Kinetic Kickz 2.0. It's a shoe insert that collects energy used while walking to charge electronic devices.
"One day, I was at soccer practice and my phone was dead. And I was unable to call my mom to tell her to come pick me up. I thought about how in science class, we learned that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So I thought what if I can just transfer the energy that I wasted on the soccer field into my phone," said Marrero.
Since that thought, Marrero has worked to improve The Kinetic Kicks, now proudly displaying The Kinetic Kickz 2.0.
"When you step down, the energy you create goes into a power bank," he described. "When you're ready, you can press a switch and in this case, the energy will go into this LED bulb and light it up like that."
His idea started with his phone with a dead battery, but he is excited for the greater good it can bring to the world. Marrero wants The Kinetic Kickz 2.0 to be a sustainable energy source everywhere, especially in places where power is less accessible.
He said, "My whole goal with all my inventions is to help make a positive impact on my community."
The Kinetic Kickz 2.0 is currently patent pending.