A PIONEERING invention nicknamed DAVE is taking its teenage creators all the way to the USA next year.

Ulverston Victoria High School students will be enjoying an all-expenses paid trip to Indianapolis with their Digital Acoustic Velocimeter' after it was picked to compete in an international engineering competition.

It is the latest in a string of successes for DAVE the brainchild of 17-year-old sixth-formers Sam Lee, Dan Hutchinson, Tom Stable and 18-year-old Rosanne Brocklebank.

For the past year, the team worked under the expert guidance of engineers Robin Sharphouse and Hugh Braithwaite, of Ulverston firm System Technologies, to develop the low-cost device which will measure the speed of sound in water very accurately.

Not only is the prototype now being developed for com-mercial marketing by System Technologies, but it has picked up numerous prizes.

In the last 12 months, the team has won the Nissan Rose Bowl for the best project submitted under the Engineering Education Scheme in the North East and Cumbria, and prizes from the British Association (BA) for Engineering, and NOF.

After success in gaining their Crest Gold Awards from the BA, the team went to London and gained their Platinum Awards (which acknowledged that their work was of under-graduate level).

As the best team at the event, they were selected to represent Exscitec and Imperial College at the prestigious international INTEL fair in Indianapolis next May.

UVHS Head of Physics Kath Walley, who took the team to London, said the team were over the moon.

"I am immensely proud of them. They have worked hard to achieve this, and throughout have presented themselves in a very professional way, something recognised by academics and engineers across the country.

"It was a privilege to see them succeed and a real delight to share their thrill of success."