Our Story

Our project was first inspired by the many stories of catalytic converter theft here in Oakland. This is a major problem for owners of certain car models, and is only getting worse. Our group has thought long and hard to come up with a solution to this problem. Our team has diverse and varied backgrounds, and we have all contributed to our vision. Nay Lin is a friend of the Durant Manor community, a neighborhood in oakland which has suffered from great aesthetic injustice due to containing the least aesthetically pleasing single family home in all of the bay area. He has incorporated a marketing aspect to our project, and we wish to draw attention to this great injustice.

Similarly, Erik Barcena harbors a great hatred towards the blue gum eucalyptus tree. This is an invasive species which has displaced native redwoods and poses a large fire risk. As a way to raise awareness for this we are incorporating the toxic oils found in the eucalyptus leaf into the design for our product. We may also be partnering with organizations that do

The journey to finalize our idea will be a long one as we need to find a cost effective solution that is effective. We have a good concept, but we still need to test it in order to see how well it functions before we can produce it for mass consumption. We will need to sketch up multiple ways to build it before coming upon one we think will be best. Then we can start marketing and initial test models before selling to the public.

We have a passion for this project as many people we know are affected by this and we could be the next potential victim to this theft epidemic. It is crucial as it is costly to replace and can happen a multitude of times even to the same person. With how easy it is to steal converters and the increasing rate of their theft we believe this is an important matter to solve.