The University of Nevada, Reno Innevation Center held its fifth annual Makerthon competition, presented in collaboration with Click Bond, Inc., April 25-27, 2025. This year, distinguished as Makerthon 5, seven teams of students were featured in the 48-hour competition.  

“It was absolutely incredible to see how much work the teams put in throughout the weekend,” Daniel Smith, Makerspace manager at the Innevation Center, said. “Seeing their rough napkin-sketch ideas come toward really surprisingly polished prototypes within 48 hours was so impressive; it was a great thing to see them engage with the prompt, learn more about their community and how they can support it.” 

Using the Makerspace’s wide array of tools, machinery and software, teams of students from both college and high school had 48 hours to develop, test, produce and then present a prototype of their product to a panel of judges. This year’s judges included Candi Block with the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, Nathan Digangi with the Downtown Reno Partnership, Marsy Kupfersmith, a senior advocate and senior volunteer, Anil Rayidi, engineering vice president with Click Bond, and Jim Sacherman, inventor/entrepreneur.

The competition’s real-world challenge prompt stated: 

“Aging is a universal journey – rich with possibility yet often shaped by invisible barriers. As people live longer, the need for forward-thinking solutions that support the evolving physical, emotional, cognitive, and social dimensions of aging become ever more important. 

Older adults – our parents, grandparents, mentors, and neighbors – deserve to thrive in environments that celebrate their wisdom, protect their autonomy, and foster connection across generations. Whether aging takes place at home, in care settings, or within the broader community, their lived experiences are shaped by access, inclusion, and dignity.

The challenge: Design a product, system, or experience that meaningfully enhances the aging journey.” 

“Seeing that they had no idea what the prompt was going to be, these students were not experts in this field 48 hours ago,” Smith said in an interview with KTVN-TV. “They spent a lot of time digging into all the different problems. We really encouraged them to touch on personal issues, and personal connections to the products they were developing, which really helps their pitch and commitment to the product.” 

The winning members on self-named Team Turbo Toads are Melanie Raymond and Lily Raymond. They took home a $2,000 prize for their invention, a prototype product RemiDeck, a familiar deck of cards created 55% bigger than standard that provides simple, fast and meaningful personalization. The sister team sought to boost cognitive functionality, provide an emotional connection and offer a tactical activity to improve fine motor skills.  

“We grew up playing a bunch of card games with our grandma,” Melanie Raymond, second-time Makerthon competitor, said. “Recently, she’s been unable to play most games besides some that can use a normal deck of cards, so that’s what inspired this.” 

RemiDeck will now be entered into a prototype-to-product accelerator, where Melanie and Lily will gain hands-on experience in transforming their idea into a market-ready product. 

Second place, with $1,000, was awarded to team OldSpicers with their product TalkieBox, a one-touch connection to making new friends, helping combat loneliness in long term care facilities. The third place, with a $500 prize, was team Flippers, who created a plug-and-play device called MemoReach, a video calling device designed for easy communication and emergency support. New this year, a Fan Favorite team was selected by an online voting poll, going to the Dream Team, helping again adults with memory loss to better understand and engage with their surroundings. 

Follow the Innevation Center on Instagram, @UNRInnevationCenter, and find this year’s competition on the 2025 highlight reel.