COLUMBUS, Ohio — Damian Earley, 15, is a rising sophomore at Columbus Alternative High School.

He's also an inventor who came up with four projects he submitted to the Invention Convention, including this year's connectable weight ramp that prevents garbage receptacles from falling over. 

“I was walking home from the bus stop in 7th grade and I noticed how all the alley garbage bins were falling over and spilling waste so, I decided there had to be some way I can help reduce the amount of waste that comes from these bins,” Earley said. 

So Garbage Lot was born.

Earley said it's a simple concept. 

“The best way to solve this problem was to use a weighted base that connects to the bottom of the axels of the bins and has an easy spring action pedal and will keep the bins from falling over,” he said. 

Earley's invention won a patent application award and first place in his grade category.

He's one of six central Ohio students honored during the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals. 

Lewis Center rising Seniors Soham Joshi and his partner, Galena's Raaghav Malik, took home three honors including the top prize of most innovative award for his SENSE, multipurpose Robotic glove. It's designed to help those who are hearing or visually impaired learn sign language. 

“Communicating with others when you're both deaf and blind, it is quite the feat and if we can make it a little bit easier for any individuals, that would be a really big win in our books,” said Joshi. 

Both Joshi and Earley said they hope their inventions will reach the market one day. 

“I'm envisioning the final product as like a 3-D printed plastic or a reusable vinyl plastic, something I can get cheap but still be reusable and good for the environment,” said Earley. 

For more information on Invention Convention, click here.