It was clear Tom R. was destined for greatness when his first word was “clock” and he mastered the art of making lightbulbs by just eight years old. This sophomore student at Pudong campus is a creative engineer inventing amazing new things. While some of us might be struggling to set up our Wi-Fi, he’s working on his speaker company and building drones, both of which he received patents for. We’re excited to see what else he comes up with in his junior and senior years.
Tom R.会说的第一个词是“钟表”，他八岁的时候就掌握了制造灯泡的工艺。很显然，Tom R.注定是要干一番大事业的。上海美国学校浦东校区的这位十年级学生是一位富有创造力的工程师，热衷于发明令人惊叹的新奇物件。当有些人还在为设置自己的Wi-Fi犯难时，他已经开始创办自己的音响公司，并制造无人机了，而且他的这两个发明都获得了专利。我们对他将在十一年级和十二年级发明的东西充满了期待。
Meet Tom, the inventor propelling the future:
Tom是驱动未来的发明家，我们来认识一下他吧:
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you’ve been working on lately?
能不能跟我们介绍一下你自己以及你最近正在钻研的东西？
I'm passionate about engineering and turning an idea into an actual, tangible product. Lately, I've been focused on my speaker company and I'm also working on drones. I’ve been designing the speakers with CAD software and then working with over 10 factories to get them produced. The idea with my speaker company is to be able to make a speaker that is cheaper than the competitor, like Bose and JBL, but still sounds good acoustically. The way I do that is by using new manufacturing methods like 3D printing. I’ve received two patents for my speaker – design and utility.
我很喜欢工程学，热衷于将想法变成有形的产品。最近，我都在专注于自己的音响公司，同时也在制造无人机。我一直在利用CAD软件设计音响，然后与十多家工厂合作，将它们生产出来。我创办这个公司的初衷是为了制造比Bose、JBL等竞争对手价格便宜，同时声音效果又非常好的音响。为此，我采用了3D打印等全新的制造方法。我的设计获得了两项专利，分别是设计专利和实用专利。
As for the drones, I've been working on high altitude drones. My latest drone, the TAV3 (TAV = Tom’s Aerial Vehicle), also received design and utility patents. Essentially, the idea with this drone is that not only can it go high, but it can go really fast, which will allow it to be able to zoom up mountains really quickly or do things more efficiently. It actually has a top speed of approximately 135 km/h and a maximum service altitude of 23,000 feet.
至于无人机，我一直在钻研高空无人机，我最新建造的无人机TAV3（TAV是Tom’s Aerial Vehicle的首字母缩写，即Tom的飞行器）同样获得了设计和实用两项专利。设计这架无人机最根本的想法就是让它不仅能够飞得很高，还能飞得很快，这让它能够沿着山脉快速陡直爬升或者是更加高效地完成任务。事实上，这架无人机的最高时速约为135公里，最大任务高度有2.3万英尺。 
Wow, you’ve been a busy guy. Have you always been passionate about engineering and inventing?
哇噻，你真得很忙哎。你一直以来都很喜欢工程学和发明创造吗？
Yeah, I really think I was interested in this pretty much since I was born. When I was a baby my parents told me I was always looking at lights and clocks. My first word was actually “clock”, probably because I was looking at one and thinking “Oooh, spinny thing!” There was one thing that was kind of embarrassing, but really funny. You know how an airplane propeller spins? Well, when I was a kid, and I was running on the track in PE class in kindergarten, I actually spun my arms around because I thought that that would make me go faster. I ended up being last place.
是的，我觉得自己从出生起就对此非常感兴趣。我父母告诉我说，我小时候一直都喜欢盯着灯泡和钟表看。我会说第一个词是“钟表”，这很可能是因为我当时正在盯着一个钟表看，心想“哦哦哦哦，它一直在转”。还有一件有些尴尬但非常有趣的事。大家都知道飞机螺旋桨是怎么旋转的。小时候，在幼儿园上体育课时，我会在跑道上跑步，然后边跑边旋转自己的胳膊，因为我觉得这会让我跑得更快。结果，我跑了个倒数第一。
When I was about eight, I started tinkering in my lab, building things out of cardboard. And when I say “lab”, it was just a small, makeshift thing equipped with a soldering iron and a box of tools. The first thing I built was a lightbulb.
八岁左右的时候，我开始在自己的实验室里鼓捣，用纸板做东西。我所谓的“实验室”只不过是一个临时搭建的小空间，配备了一个烙铁机器和一盒工具。我鼓捣出的第一个东西就是一个灯泡。
Tom's first speaker iterations.
Tom设计的第一代音响。
When you came to SAS in Grade 4, did SAS help you pursue your passions even more?
当你四年级来SAS读书之后，SAS有没有让你更加热爱自己的兴趣爱好？
I like how supportive the teachers are at SAS and how they’ve encouraged me to pursue what I’m passionate about. I really want to credit my middle school teachers, Mr. David, Ms. Higginbottom, and Mr. Carozza. One of my Exploratory classes, which is basically a program where kids can explore certain topics in short 45-minute sessions, was with Mr. David building CO2 cars and he let me take it a step further by letting me build a nitromethane powered car. Another Exploratory class was 3D printing with Ms. Higginbottom where she taught me CAD software, which I would go on to use in my future product designs.
我喜欢SAS的老师们提供的大力支持，他们鼓励我追求自己热爱的东西。我真的要感谢初中时的David老师, Higginbottom老师和Carozza老师。我有一门探索课是David老师教的。探索课基本上就是让学生们在45分钟的课堂时间里探索特定的主题。David老师鼓励我们建造以二氧化碳为动力的汽车，他还让我更进一步，去建造一辆以硝基甲烷为动力的汽车。Higginbottom老师教会了我使用CAD软件，我会在后续的产品设计中继续使用这个软件。
In Grade 8, Mr. Carozza inspired me a lot. We had a lot of meetups and discussed a lot of stuff together. He was someone I could talk to. One day Mr. Carozza was telling me about an older kid in high school named Cleo who really likes engineering and is similar to me. At the time I had an issue with a portable air conditioner I was building so Mr. Carozza asked Cleo if he could help me. Cleo gave me advice about how to solve this issue and, in Grade 8, I ended up building three air conditioners using thermal, electric, and evaporative cooling hybrid methods.
八年级的时候，Carozza老师给了我很大的启发。我们面对面讨论了很多东西。我可以跟他畅所欲言。一天，Carozza老师告诉我说，高中部有一位叫Cleo的学长和我一样也很喜欢工程学。当时，我在建造一台便携式空调时遇到了一个问题。Carozza老师问Cleo他能不能帮我。Cleo就如何解决这个问题给我提供了一些建议。最终，在八年级的时候，我采用热、电和蒸发冷却混合方法建造了三台空调。
What are your plans for the future?
你对未来有什么计划？
I have some big plans for the future that I would really like to implement. As a long-term goal, I would like to start tech companies and be a founder of a Fortune 500 tech company. My short-term goal is to just keep improving with the company that I have right now. I'm more focused on trying to learn rather than making big profits at this point. Starting the company I have now has been a great learning experience, and if I fail, I will try again because running a company is not as easy as I thought. And hopefully in the future it will lead me to starting multiple tech companies.
针对未来，我制定了一些自己非常想实施的宏伟计划。我的长期目标是创办多家科技公司并成为一家《财富》世界500强科技公司的创始人。我的短期目标是继续不断完善我目前创办的公司。我现在更加关注的是学习相关知识，而不是赚大钱。创办目前的公司给我带来了很好的学习体验，如果失败了，我会再次尝试，因为经营一家公司并不像我想的那么容易。我希望这些经验能够在未来帮助我创办多家科技公司。
My dream university is probably MIT or Caltech. I just heard about MIT developing a new propeller type for drones. I was thinking about potentially implementing them and improving upon them with my next drone, the TAV4.
我梦想中的大学很可能是麻省理工学院或加州理工学院。我最近听说麻省理工学院正在为无人机开发一种新型螺旋桨。我正在考虑在我的下一代无人机TAV4上安装这种螺旋桨并对其进行改进。
From popsicle-stick drones to patent-worthy products, Tom is creating amazing things that we can only dream of. We have no doubt his inventions will change the world for the better and we can only imagine what he'll be achieving as he continues to pursue his dreams. And we'll be sure to keep an eye on the skies for TAV4.
从冰棒棍无人机到具有专利价值的产品，Tom正在打造我们可望而不可及的神奇物件。我们相信，他的发明肯定能让世界变得更加美好。随着他继续追逐自己的梦想，我们对他能够取得的成就充满了期待。当然了，我们也会仰望天空，找寻TAV4的身影。