Countywide : Gadgets May Get on TV

A persistent dog was the inspiration for 8-year-old Chris Populus’ Fetch-O-Matic, an invention that allows a canine to play catch on its own after its human companions drop out of the game.

Second-grader Kimberly Larson’s desire for a perfectly toasted marshmallow led to the Turbo Roaster 2000, and Justin Bullock’s Bug Alive provides a gentle way to remove insects from the home.

Those unusual creations sound like something that might be featured on the “Late Show With David Letterman,” which is exactly where the young inventors hope to be tonight.

Producers of the show invited the Tustin students--and the dog--to New York, along with three other Orange County students and two from Wisconsin, to an audition today.

At least four of the eight will be chosen to demonstrate their award-winning inventions on national television and meet Letterman, the show’s host.

The students’ creations caught the attention of “Late Show” producers after the inventions received top awards at Irvine Valley College’s “Astounding Inventions of the Future” fair last month and at a similar convention sponsored by the Tustin Unified School District.

For instance, Chris Duckett, a Tustin sixth-grader, invented the Motion Sensor Sprinkler. If uninvited people or pets stray onto a lawn, sprinklers are activated, drenching the intruders.

Also vying for spots on the Letterman show are Irvine youngsters Taryn Sanchez, who designed musical shoes for tap dancing, and Andrew Dunnigan, who created a stress reliever for adults inspired by “ooze” in the movie “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.”

The enthusiastic students, notified Wednesday that they had been selected to audition for the show, boarded a plane at John Wayne Airport on Thursday, each accompanied by a parent.