Southington student wins award at National Invention Convention in Washington D.C.

SOUTHINGTON — Eighth-grader Lucca Riccio received an award at the inaugural National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo last weekend in Washington D.C.

Riccio, who attends DePaolo Middle School, invented a“Message Mask,” a Bluetooth-enabled, noise-canceling medical device to help patients communicate while receiving oxygen through the mask, according to a statement released by the National Invention Convention. He took home the “Most Marketable Product” award, beating out 260 competitors from 15 states.

The idea came from a real-life experience when Riccio was in the emergency room with his grandmother. His uncle rushed across the country to be by her side.

“He wanted to talk to her, he was scared he would not make it there in time,” Riccio said in a statement. “But the phone could not pick up her voice over the noise of the machinery in the room, and I could not understand her through the muffled mask to tell him what she was saying. My Bluetooth-enabled noise canceling microphone would have picked up her voice and relayed it to the smartphone as well as to a local speaker, so everyone could hear.”

Riccio has already filed for patent protection with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office  …read more