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Two Paul Duke STEM Students Gain Recognition at National Invention Convention

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Kumar and Susskind pose in front of the ICW sign at Nationals.

Recently Rohan Kumar and William Susskind, two rising seniors from Paul Duke STEM High School (PDHS), championed great success at the National Invention Convention at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. 

However, the journey to get to Nationals was far from easy. First Kumar and Susskind had to compete in the Inventure Prize Competition at Georgia Tech, a statewide competition where their invention DoorBully was nominated to compete nationally through Invention Convention Worldwide (ICW).

Susskind and Kumar accept their awards on stage during the awards ceremony

Susskind and Kumar accept their awards on stage during the awards ceremony.

ICW is a program that seeks to teach students to solve problems and become critical thinkers. The program aims to prepare students across the country to be able to meet the needs of and excel in the 21st-century STEM-related workforce.

However, ICW takes a contrasting approach to STEM, combining science, technology, engineering and math with invention and entrepreneurship. ICW has 135,000 students participating in their program annually, making it a giant in student-based STEM. 

ICW hosts a national convention annually that showcases student inventions from across the nation, which have already competed and been successful at statewide and local competitions. This year, the convention was held June 7-9, showcasing over 338 inventions from 20 states. 

DoorBully’s creation

The creation of DoorBully started at PDHS through Problem-Based Learning taught in every class, teaching students how to use the Engineering Design Process. 

Dr. John Mobley, an Engineering Teacher and Makerspace Manager at PDHS, has known Kumar and Susskind for three years. Once the students identified the problem of school safety, Mobley helped sponsor them while they designed their product.

“As Lead Teacher, my main objective was to provide tools, feedback and support during the Engineering Design Process,” said Mobley. “The Makerspace at PDHS also provided a safe workspace for William and Rohan to prototype and iterate at school.”

With Mobley’s assistance, the students went through all the parts of the design process: brainstorming, ideation, prototyping and communication. 

Prototype of DoorBully
Prototype of DoorBully

“In planning DoorBully, we were alarmed by local statistics on gun violence and active shooter incidents in Gwinnett County,” said Kumar and Susskind. “We researched existing classroom safety solutions and found them non-compliant with fire codes.

“This drove us to independently design DoorBully, an innovative system that automatically locks down classroom doors, provides visual indicators for teachers, integrates with a website for first responders to monitor door statuses and utilizes microphones to pinpoint an active shooters location, thereby enhancing safety for students and educators.”

DoorBully’s triumph

Once DoorBully gained recognition as an outstanding invention at the state level, Kumar and Susskind traveled to the Henry Ford Museum to compete with hundreds of other students.

Kumar and Susskind give a presentation about their invention at the Henry Ford Museum.
Kumar and Susskind give a presentation about their invention at the Henry Ford Museum.

“Being at the state and national competitions felt great,” said Kumar and Susskind. “It was cool to represent our school and community and to be around other students who cared about making a difference. Seeing how my peers tackled big issues with new ideas was eye-opening. The whole experience felt like we were all on the same team, trying to do something good for the world.”

Nonetheless, the boys did much more than enjoy new experiences throughout the different conventions they attended.

During the national convention, the students won a third place within their age category. Additionally, they also won the Patent Application Award sponsored by WilliamHale Law Firm, helping to guide them to obtain a full patent and paying for the application with a cost of around $20,000. 

Moving forward 

Now, the students are transitioning from the prototype of DoorBully to a product that they can bring to the market. This is made possible through the Patent Application Award which is crucial in allowing Kumar and Susskind to move forward with their product as young inventors. Further, the two students have worked to implicate DoorBully in schools around Georgia in hopes of widening DoorBully’s reach and impact. 

“Encouraged by their parents, teachers and supporters, William and Rohan have reached out to schools and school districts in Georgia and have already begun to get lots of interest in their product,” said Mobley. 

The students’ story is an uplifting one, proving that when young minds put in impassioned work towards something, they can often achieve it. With that, Kumar and Susskind left a piece of parting advice for anyone who feels inspired to start problem-solving and inventing.

“I would tell anyone aspiring to invent or create not to be afraid of failure. It’s a natural part of the process and often a steppingstone to success,” said Kumar and Susskind. “Through our own journey with DoorBully, we experienced numerous setbacks.

“However, each failure was a learning opportunity that contributed to our growth and progress. Embrace failure as a teacher and use it to refine your ideas and strategies.”

Contact Kumar and Susskind about DoorBully at quicksecurellc@gmail.com. Learn more about ICW at inhub.thehenryford.org/icw.

Zoey Schlueter is a senior who attends Greater Atlanta Christian School and has lived in Peachtree Corners her whole life. She enjoys written journalism inside and outside of school and plans on pursuing journalism in college.

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Public Safety

From the Mayor: The Use of Advanced Techniques for a Safer Peachtree Corners

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White middle aged man with glasses. He's smiling and wearing a dark suit and white collard shirt with the top button open. Behind him is a window showing grass, trees, bushes and other plants.

City Marshals use innovative tools and practices to uncover illegal nightclub in Peachtree Corners

I am proud to share the ongoing efforts of our city’s dedicated marshal’s office in ensuring the safety and integrity of our community. Recently, their diligent work uncovered an illegal nightclub operating in our city, hidden behind the facade of a small retail storefront.

Upon investigation, our marshals found that most of this leased space was being used as an unlicensed nightclub and hookah lounge. This operation had never been permitted, lacked a business license and was in direct violation of fire codes and state regulations.

Despite a legal occupancy limit of 60 people, over 200 individuals were regularly packed into this hidden venue.

The state’s Department of Revenue was brought in due to alcohol being served without a proper license. This situation posed a significant safety risk, one that could have resulted in severe consequences had it continued unnoticed.

Thanks to the expertise and perseverance of our marshals, the illegal club was identified, citations were issued and the operation was shut down before any potential disaster occurred.

These types of establishments are not just a matter of regulatory oversight; they often attract individuals seeking to evade the law, which can lead to dangerous situations, including violence and other criminal activities.

By taking swift action, we may have prevented a serious incident from occurring in our city.

Using innovative technology for public safety

Our city marshals leveraged technology, including drones and social media monitoring techniques, to monitor activity and gather the necessary evidence, ensuring that enforcement actions were backed by undeniable proof. The use of such tools has become an integral part of our law enforcement strategy, allowing us to maintain public safety effectively and efficiently.

Our marshals’ ability to adapt and incorporate innovative methods is a testament to their commitment to protecting our residents.

I want to commend our marshals and additional law enforcement partners for their exceptional work in this matter. Their dedication to upholding the law and safeguarding our community is truly commendable. We will continue to utilize all available resources to keep Peachtree Corners a safe and thriving place for all.

Thank you for your continued support in making our city a great place to live, work and play.

For more about the City of Peachtree Corners, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.

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Tech

May Mobility Offers Autonomous Driverless Rides in Peachtree Corners

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self-driving, multi-colored vehicle from May Mobility in service in Peachtree Corners, GA

Peachtree Corners marks May Mobility’s third driverless operation in the US and first commercial driver-out deployment

May Mobility, a leading autonomous vehicle (AV) technology company, recently announced the launch of its first commercial driver-out autonomous transportation service in the City of Peachtree Corners.

The company has transitioned its Peachtree Corners service to driverless operations, marking May Mobility’s third driverless deployment in the United States, following successful demonstration deployments in Sun City, Arizona and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In partnership with Curiosity Lab, T-Mobile and the City of Peachtree Corners, May Mobility has been offering public rides in its autonomous Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS (mobility-as-a-service) to visitors of Peachtree Corner’s Curiosity Lab — one of the country’s first smart city environments powered by real-world connected infrastructure and T-Mobile’s 5G — since September 2024 with safety drivers in place.

Rear view of multi-colored, self-driving car from May Mobility on the road in Peachtree Corners
photo courtesy of May Mobility and City of Peachtree Corners

Now passengers will be able to ride the service without anyone behind the wheel. The service zone includes eight pre-determined stops along Technology Parkway at popular destinations such as hotels, restaurants, retail shops, office spaces, the Innovation Center at Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners City Hall.

“Peachtree Corners will be our third driverless operation, and we are excited to debut our first publicly available driverless service in the City of Peachtree Corners,” said Edwin Olson, CEO and founder of May Mobility. “This launch reinforces the importance of working with cities and communities everywhere to solve real transportation challenges.”

About the vehicles

May Mobility’s vehicles are equipped with its patented Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology that leverages in-situ AI reasoning models to continuously learn and adapt to new, complex and even unpredictable driving conditions to create a safer, more comfortable ride.

In doing so, MPDM solves the industry’s biggest challenge — adapting to unexpected, dynamic conditions or “edge cases,” and allows the company to scale quickly and efficiently to new environments.

“Curiosity Lab’s real-world, smart city ecosystem has provided May Mobility with a unique environment to both continue to develop and improve their operations over the past six months, which has only further prepared the May Mobility team for its third driver-out operation and first commercial operation in the U.S.,” said Brian Johnson, Peachtree Corners city manager.

Up-close look at a sensor on the multi-colored, self-driving car from May Mobility on the road in Peachtree Corners
photo courtesy of May Mobility and City of Peachtree Corners

“T-Mobile’s 5G is a key staple of our ecosystem and the driver-out transition, as it provides May Mobility with low latency, high bandwidth connectivity for a smoother rider experience and enhanced safety operations.”

“This will continue to be important as we work toward expanding the route towards Town Center to provide additional means of transportation for city residents and visitors,” he continued. “It is incredible to see how the May Mobility team has been able to achieve driver-out operations within six months of the initial launch in our city, and we look forward to having our residents and visitors experience it for themselves.”

The details

May Mobility’s driverless operations in Peachtree Corners are open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with each vehicle accommodating up to five passengers at a time.

Riders will be able to easily book trips to any of the service’s eight stops on-demand through the May Mobility app, powered by transit tech company Via, available in the App Store and Google Play. The app guides users on how to book a ride and access the vehicle, answers questions and more.

Up-close look at the rooftop sensor on the multi-colored, self-driving car from May Mobility on the road in Peachtree Corners
photo courtesy of May Mobility and City of Peachtree Corners

May Mobility is working with the City of Peachtree Corners on future expansions and has plans to launch autonomous vehicles in other parts of metro Atlanta in partnership with Lyft later this year.

Additional driverless operations in the U.S. will be announced throughout 2025.

May Mobility extended its leading portfolio of AV use cases with its recent announcement at CES 2025 of a partnership with Tecnobus, an established European electric minibus manufacturer, to introduce a new AV minibus platform able to seat up to 30 passengers, including wheelchair accessibility.

For more information about May Mobility, visit maymobility.com.

For more about the City of Peachtree Corners and Curiosity Lab, visit cityofpeachtreecornersga.gov and curiositylabptc.com.

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City of Peachtree Corners

Peachtree Corners and ConnVAS Collaborate on Intelligent Crosswalk Technology

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Pedestrian Crossing and One Way signs in a suburban neighborhood. There are power lines overhead and trees in the background.

Live pilot in Georgia smart city showcases groundbreaking advancements in pedestrian safety and roadway technology 

Peachtree Corners — one of the nation’s first smart cities powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G — has announced a collaboration for a pilot project with ConnVAS, an innovator in advanced traffic and pedestrian safety solutions.

The pilot launched outside of Pinckneyville Middle School, addresses the safety challenges of busy crosswalks by testing how real-time, AI-driven detection can reduce accidents and create a safer environment for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers by activating alerts, even when pedestrians do not activate crosswalk signals.  

An AI-driven computing system

The pilot utilizes ConnVAS’s MAGIC (Multi-Access Generic Infrastructure Controller), AI-driven edge computing system, which incorporates cameras mounted on RRFB poles (Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon) to monitor pedestrian and vehicle movement, V2X transceivers for real-time vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and an integrated audio-visual alert system.

ConnVAS AI-driven tech used for safe crosswalks
photo courtesy of City of Peachtree Corners and ConnVAS

When the system detects a pedestrian or cyclist using the crosswalk, crossing outside of the crosswalk lines or a vehicle approaching the crosswalk, each of its technologies work together in real time to immediately activate alerts to both the users of the crosswalk and incoming drivers — even if the pedestrians did not press the crosswalk buttons.

The system also continually collects anonymous data such as felonies, near-misses and pedestrian and vehicle counts for ongoing analysis of crosswalk usage and traffic.  

“Peachtree Corners is dedicated to implementing technology solutions that address real-world safety challenges for our residents,” said Brandon Branham, executive director of Curiosity Lab.

“The ConnVAS system provides an innovative solution to common safety hazards such as pedestrians crossing outside of designated areas, failure to press crosswalk buttons and drivers failing to detect pedestrians or cyclists in time,” he continued.

One Way and Pedestrian Crossing signs in a suburban neighborhood with power lines overhead and trees in the background. Logos from city of Peachtree Corners, ConnVAS and Curiosity Lab are on top of the image
photo courtesy of City of Peachtree Corners and ConnVAS

“By integrating advanced AI detection and real-time alerts, this ConnVAS pilot enhances safety in an area where our residents need it the most today, while also generating actionable insights that can guide our development of smarter, more responsive infrastructure in the future. We are excited to be continuing the pilot program to continue to gain insights in how we can improve our city for our residents.”  

Collecting data and observing patterns

Preliminary results from the pilot program that were extracted from a midweek 72-hour period, show distinct patterns that can better help city managers ensure roadways are safe and efficient for VRUs (vulnerable road users) and drivers.

At the pilot location, ConnVAS reported over 220 pedestrian crossings for more than 70 crossing events, with only three false alarms. The system consistently and successfully activated flashing beacons and audio alerts in real time, ensuring those crossing the road and oncoming drivers were promptly warned.

Additionally, traffic data collected by the system is being used to evaluate the technology’s impact and will aid city officials in making informed decisions about improving road safety and urban planning in specific locations.  

Pedestrian crossing sign with lights in a suburban neighborhood
photo courtesy of City of Peachtree Corners and ConnVAS

“The pilot we are conducting in Peachtree Corners has been instrumental in refining our technology and demonstrating its impact in a real-world environment,” said Danny Frydman, founder and CEO of ConnVAS. “Through continuous testing and data analysis, we’ve been able to improve the accuracy of our system’s AI detection, ensuring faster and more reliable activation of alerts. This has directly enhanced the safety of the area by addressing critical challenges, including missed warnings for pedestrians and cyclists or delayed driver awareness.”

“The insights gained from this pilot are helping us evolve the software to adapt to complex traffic scenarios and create safer, smarter intersections everywhere,” Frydman added. “We hope to scale this solution throughout the city as the pilot and technology continues to develop.”

Evaluating features

The ConnVAS pilot in Peachtree Corners is continuing to evaluate various features, including autonomous operation features that eliminate the need for manual button presses and reduce false alarms, cyclist-friendly designs and V2X connectivity to communicate with connected vehicles to alert drivers of crosswalk activity.

Additional capabilities such as dynamic illumination based on pedestrian location are also being explored to further enhance VRU safety. 

About ConnVAS

ConnVAS is an innovator in advanced traffic and pedestrian safety solutions. At the core of ConnVAS solutions is the ConnVAS MAGIC — an AI-driven edge computing traffic detector. The MAGIC stands at the heart of ConnVAS enhanced RRFB, intelligent signalized intersection and traffic analytics solutions.

Providing edge computing solutions that include AI detection, V2X communication and diverse interfaces, ConnVAS enhances the safety and efficiency of the transportation environment.

For more information, visit connvas.com.

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