A Porirua student has built a tool that gives teachers evidence for checking whether a piece of work was written by the student or by generative AI. It won him first place in the years 7 to 10 category of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026.
Gabriel Anthony, a Year 10 student at Whitby Collegiate, created Real Mahi. It records how a piece of writing is made, including the typing, pasting and editing, so teachers have evidence to use when they assess its authenticity. Gabriel interviewed teachers and tested the tool in depth with them to refine how it works.
It’s his second win in the category. He took first place in 2024 with Pill Bot.
The nationwide competition, now in its sixth year, is run by Samsung in partnership with the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) and Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ). It asks students in years 7 to 13 to use design thinking and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) to solve a problem that matters to their community.
Built with the people who’ll use them
First place in the years 11 to 13 category went to Jack Harker, a Year 11 student at ACG Parnell College in Auckland, for Parley. It’s a communication tool designed to help people who struggle to speak take part in real-time conversations.
Jack built it for his uncle, who has cerebral palsy and helped develop the tool by testing it and giving feedback. Jack won the junior category in 2025 with his Sail Race Tracker.
Second place in the years 7 to 10 category went to Silas Goh, a Year 9 student at Kingsway School in Auckland, for BrainKey. His prototype uses brainwaves as passwords, for people who struggle to remember them, and Silas gathered brainwave data from 47 people to develop and test it.
Jiacheng He, a Year 13 student at Kristin School in Auckland, took second in the senior category with a working prototype of a robot that removes taproot weeds from lawns. He used stakeholder feedback and testing to improve the design.
The judges also named three highly commended projects. In the junior category, Luke Huang, a Year 9 student at Rangitoto College, built Project FlowMark, a free-floating buoy that measures water pollution as it travels downstream.
In the senior category, James Wang, a Year 12 student at Saint Kentigern College, developed Range Runner, a robot that collects golf balls. Izzy Spreitzer, a Year 13 student at Mount Albert Grammar School, designed an affordable sensory board for outdoor, independent play, inspired by her work with children with special needs.
Prizes for schools and teachers too
The prize pool totals $24,000 in cash and Samsung technology, and it’s shared with the teachers and schools that supported the winners.
The judging panel was Dr Joel Rindelaub and Dr Siouxsie Wiles from the University of Auckland, Dr Ratu Mataira of OpenStar Technologies, MOTAT head of education Julie Baker and Sarah Washbrooke from TENZ. Entries were judged on creativity and originality, relevance to the community, feasibility, presentation and use of STEAM.
Baker said it was the toughest competition yet, with only a few points separating first, second and highly commended. She said the winners showed a clear need for their ideas and how they had tested and refined them with real-world feedback.
The 2027 competition opens at the start of Term 2. “This competition has gone from strength to strength since launching in 2021,” Baker said.
