Now in its 26th year, the event brings teams of middle and high school students to the lab to compete with home-built contraptions.
Teenagers wielding power tools and plywood demonstrated their engineering prowess at the annual Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Friday. Also in evidence: lots of small motors, 3D-printed gears, PVC pipe, and duct tape.
First held at JPL in 1998, the event pits middle and high school teams against each other as they try to get handmade devices to accomplish a task that changes annually. For this year’s challenge, dubbed the “Bucket Brigade Contest,” teams needed to create devices capable of moving about 2 gallons (8 liters) of water from a holding reservoir into a bucket about 16 feet (5 meters) away in 60 seconds while satisfying a long list of rules.
Arcadia High School’s Team Still Water won first place among student teams in the 2025 Invention Challenge at JPL.NASA/JPL-CaltechIn all, 18 teams of students from middle and high schools across Los Angeles and Orange counties competed. First place went to Arcadia High School’s Team Still Water, which completed the task in just 6.45 seconds. Mission Viejo High’s Team Senior Citizens was close behind, finishing in 6.71 seconds. The Samo Seals of Santa Monica High came in third, at 9.18 seconds.
Five teams from outside the area — four from schools in Colorado and Massachusetts and one involving professional engineers — were invited to compete as well. Of those, the team led by retired JPL engineer Alan DeVault’s Team “Trial and Error Engineering” came in first (a repeat from last year). And “Team 6” from Pioneer Charter School of Science in the Boston area took second place (also a repeat performance from 2024). No team qualified for third place.
Some of the devices in the 2025 Invention Challenge at NASA JPL made a big splash.NASA/JPL-CaltechJudges named Team Clankers from Mission Viejo High most artistic, Team 6 from Pioneer Charter School of Science most unusual, and Team Winning Engineering Team (WET) from Temple City High most creative.
The event was supported by dozens of volunteers from JPL staff. JPL Fire Chief Dave Dollarhide, familiar with a bucket brigade, was a guest judge.
News Media Contact
Melissa PamerJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.626-314-4928melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov
2025-135
Share
Details
Last Updated Dec 05, 2025Related Terms
Jet Propulsion LaboratoryExplore More
6 min readNASA Data Powers New Tool to Protect Water Supply After Fires
When wildfires scorch a landscape, the flames are just the beginning. NASA is helping U.S.…
Article 2 months ago 5 min readNASA’s Deep Space Communications Demo Exceeds Project Expectations
Article 3 months ago 6 min readNASA’s Tally of Planets Outside Our Solar System Reaches 6,000
Article 3 months ago Keep ExploringDiscover More Topics From NASA
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
Hence then, the article about invention challenge brings student engineers to nasa jpl was published today ( ) and is available on NASA ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Invention Challenge Brings Student Engineers to NASA JPL )
Also on site :