At the age of 12, most children aren’t serious about easy methods to assist these in want and make the world a greater place. That’s not the case with 12-year-old Rebecca Young, who discovered herself in Time Magazine as a part of its Best Girls of the Year 2025 characteristic. Young earned the honors after inventing a solar-powered backpack with an electrical blanket inside for the unhoused who had been sleeping outdoors within the brutally chilly Scottish winters.
The invention earned Young the title of “Innovator” within the Time article. Originally constructed as a part of the Primary Engineer annual competitors, Young was up towards greater than 70,000 different creators all through the world. Each yr, the competitors selects one scholar’s thought and Young’s solar-powered blanket backpack was the winner in 2024. Dozens extra had been then created and distributed to a shelter in Glasgow, Scotland. The plan is to provide much more to offer to these in want. Young’s creation captured the eye of Lego who turned her into her personal Lego minifigure.
Electric blankets are amongst certainly one of Reddit’s favourite devices and Young’s design is being put to good use by serving to these out on the streets maintain heat. Young’s solar-powered blanket and backpack mixture is one thing she says was wanted. “If you see a problem you think you can fix, you can do something about it,” she told The Guardian.
The progress of the solar-powered blanket
The solar-powered blankets had been made with foldable photo voltaic panels that cost through the day utilizing the solar. Alongside the folding panels, the solar-powered blanket is constructed with a battery pack to retailer the ability. Young’s thought was later prototyped by Thales UK, a companion of Primary Engineer, which created 120 of the blankets. It’s designed to fold up snugly right into a backpack so it’s extra easy to hold round and pull out when it will get chilly.
Thales took Young’s preliminary design and along with her assist, iterated on it by giving it extra warmth settings and security options to raised shield the person. The ultimate prototype design was formally showcased in May 2024 on the Scotland West regional award ceremony on the University of Glasgow. Young received a silver medal for her design.
Young’s effort highlighted a real-world downside and solved it by introducing a novel and cleverly designed piece of know-how for these in want. The analysis into solar energy is already fixing issues associated to energy as nicely. Those who’re unhoused face tough and harsh circumstances together with freezing temperatures and struggling to maintain heat whereas outdoor. Providing them with heated solar-powered blankets can enable them to maintain heat through the coldest instances.
Where the photo voltaic powered blanket is right now
The solar-powered blankets have since gone into wider manufacturing with the help of the Royal British Veterans Enterprise. Each one was assembled and despatched out by veterans or those that have a incapacity. The RBVE is a nationwide charity with a deal with creating jobs, constructing houses, and establishing communities for veterans and people with disabilities.
Innovation and creating new innovations is one thing anybody can do. In the years since creating the solar-powered heated blanket, Young is now the identical age as a few 14-year-olds who invented a prophylactic to detect STDs. Young has since continued her research at Kelvinside Academy the place she is in her third yr.
The RBVE is matching every sale of the solar-powered blankets by pledging to donate one extra blanket to charities. Young’s blanket and backpack combo is tackling the social situation of homelessness by giving the unhoused entry to new know-how that gives them with a method to keep heat and maintain protected on the streets. Thales UK and the RBVE are working in tandem to create and launch extra of the heated solar-powered blankets created by the younger inventor.