11-Year-Old Boy Invents a Device To Stop Hot Car Deaths of Children

When something traumatic happens to a kid, they either deny that it happened, act out their stress, or turn to their parents for emotional support.

And there are those rare, smart, inventive, and exceptionally-proactive children who do the unthinkable: create a difference.

This is what fifth-grader Bishop Curry did when a 6-month old infant girl in his neighborhood died after she was left alone in a hot car. When he learned the sad news, he created a device that he would have used to save the child's life. According to his father, Bishop Curry IV:

"It made him sad, and at that point, the wheels started turning in his mind," he told CBS News. "He came up with a way to prevent it from happening."

The Texan native drew up a device and named it "Oasis." They launched a funding campaign via GoFundMe, and proceeded to raise more than $50,000 online.

It took him five months to make with his father, who was an engineer at Toyota.

"When he showed me that sketch I was so proud of him for thinking of a solution," Curry said. "We always just complain about things and rarely offer solutions."

Oasis was designed to be placed on the headrest of car seat, and can sense if a child is still seated after the car stops moving. Bishop designed an internal cooling system that would automatically turn on if a certain temperature is reached.

"The device detects if vehicle comes to stop, using GPS technology," Curry explained. "It then detects if a child is in that car seat, and if the car is heating up. If all of those things are taking place, it blows cold air on the child through an internal cooling system."

The device is also equipped with a built-in antenna that also simultaneously sends a text message to the child's parents, and alerts the paramedics and the police.

Curry's device was so promising that his Dad even pitched it to Toyota. This paved the way for the car manufacturer to send them to the Child Injury Prevention Conference, where they presented their idea to different car seat manufacturers.

Despite the attention, the 11-year old inventor still hasn't forgotten the 6-month old baby who inspired him to create the Oasis: Fern.

And Fern's parents have been encouraging of what Bishop has done.

"They really supported me," he said. "They didn't want anything [like that> to happen to any other families."