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2006

Electrotactile Braille Display

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Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2006 - $1,500

This E-Team is developing an electrotactile Braille display to allow the blind to read text from a computer screen. The device, essentially a small box with lines of electrodes representing Braille dots, uses electrical pulses to stimulate the nerves in the user's fingertips, simulating the feel of raised Braille. The device downloads text from a computer through a USB connection.

There are other text-reading Braille displays on the market, but none that use electrical stimulation. Current devices move a series of pins up and down to change the Braille text being displayed, but the high number of small moving parts brings the price of these displays up to $10,000, limiting their market. The team estimates their device will cost a few hundred dollars.

Automated TB Diagnostic

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Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, 2006 - $17,250

This E-Team is developing an automated tuberculosis (TB) tester for the developing world. The current method of TB diagnosis, acid fast bacilli (AFB) sputum microscopy, is slow and unreliable: after collecting the sample, technicians spend 20-30 minutes looking for TB on a recommended 300 fields on each slide. Technician fatigue, lack of training, technician shortages and human error make sputum microscopy, especially in the developing world, highly inaccurate. By automating the slide reading process and replacing error-prone technicians, the team believes the TB tester will make TB diagnosis faster and more consistent, reducing resources wasted on false positives and letting fewer false negatives slip by.

Development and Commercialization of Innovative Wall-climbing Robots

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CUNY City College, 2006 - $16,000

This E-Team is developing the City-Climber, a wall-climbing robot intended for use in the inspection of building facades. New York City law mandates the inspection of building facades every five years, and the task is currently accomplished by lowering three trained workers down the side of the building by scaffold equipment. Each additional drop to reach other areas of the façade requires a complete relocation of the rigging equipment, making the process time-consuming and expensive (the cost for one day can exceed $3,000). The E-Team’s robot adheres to the wall by employing aerodynamic attraction produced by a vacuum rotor package. Cameras and sensors inside the robot are used to assess the condition of the building façade, and the robot itself is remotely operated by a joystick.

Soy-Based Plasticizer

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Ohio State University, 2006 - $14,000

This E-Team is evaluating the commercial potential of a soy-based plasticizer developed by Battelle, an Ohio-based non-profit research organization. Plasticizers are substances added to plastics or other materials to make or keep them soft and pliable. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plasticizers cause significant health problems and are banned for use in medical devices and toys, but current alternatives to PVC cannot deliver low cost, high performance, and non-toxicity. The team believes its soy-based plasticizer has the ability to do just that, offering an inexpensive, effective, non-toxic, renewable plasticizer. The technology is already developed and patented, and the team has put in 500 hours identifying market opportunities for it. The team is utilizing NCIIA funds to take the product to market: they will interview industry and market professionals, test product formulations, develop business and operational plans, and determine the best path to market.

Orion Security LSP LLC

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Lehigh University, 2006 - $16,500

This E-Team, already incorporated as Orion Security LSP LLC, is in the process of completing prototype development of their low-cost GPS location device. The company, formed in Lehigh's Integrated Product Development program, currently runs a location-based service called Findum, which provides a person's location through a cellular telephone. The user, say a parent, logs onto Findum's online application, enters their username and password, and instantly acquires the exact location of the cell phone--say a child carrying it in her pocket.

While location-based services like this represent a growing industry with several competitors on the market, the high price of location devices (from $250-$800) have prevented explosive growth. However, the team has developed a manufacturing process that allows them to sell the devices for $50-$100. The team is now perfecting that manufacturing process and designing prototypes for their three target markets: collars for pets, shoe inserts for children, and vehicle devices for business-to-business fleet management.

Chemical-free Artisanal Mining Solution

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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2006 - $17,500

Of the more than thirteen million individuals in fifty-five developing countries that depend on small-scale gold mining to survive, most employ an ancient and harmful practice called "mercury amalgamation" in order to extract the gold. After panning for gold in local bodies of water, the miners pour gold-bonding mercury into their pans to form a solid paste. They wash off excess mercury into the water and boil down the paste to yield pure gold. The mercury in the water poisons the miners, the communities living downstream, and pollutes the environment. The European Union, the world's largest global exporter of mercury, will soon ban mercury exports, putting tens of millions of artisanal gold miners out of work.

This E-Team has a solution: an inexpensive (~$30), manually powered centrifugal gold extraction device. Based on industrial-size gold centrifuges, the device uses lightweight modern plastics to create a hand crank-based centrifuge capable of extracting gold with little effort and without requiring mercury.

Two competitors exist, but both of their solutions still require the use of at least some mercury.

A Cell Phone-Based Personal Computer for Developing Communities

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University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2006 - $13,500

This E-Team is looking to address the digital divide between developed and developing countries by creating a low-cost cell phone with PC-like capability. The cell phone will have a general-purpose processor, removable flash memory, external keyboard, and the ability to output to a television. The team is focusing its initial efforts on India, where demand for cell phones is growing and television access is already established. The PI has a strong relationship with Microsoft Research India and Research in Motion, and will work with them on prototype development.

There are other "smartphones" on the market with functionality similar to the E-Team's design, but all come at considerable cost ($500+). The team will try to sell its device for less than $100.

Pratt Design Incubator - SMIT (Solar Ivy)

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Pratt Institute, 2006 - $14,700

This E-Team is developing GROW, a hybrid solar and wind panel designed to resemble ivy vines. GROW consists of flexible photovoltaic foil molded to look like ivy and piezoelectric generators acting as leaves. The foil produces solar energy while the fluttering of leaves flicks the piezoelectric devices, generating wind energy. The team, the first to come out of Pratt Institute's Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology (SMIT) group, has partnered with a solar foil manufacturer, DayStar Technologies, and a piezoelectric manufacturer, Face International. The team intends the product to be an aesthetically pleasing alternative to standard solar panels and wind turbines, and plan to target multiple markets, including commercial, residential, and the developed and developing worlds.

Update:

SMIT is presently (2010) focusing on developing and commercializing its Solar Ivy product (the solar panel component of GROW).

In 2009, SMIT exhibited Solar Ivy at the MoMa Exhibition: Design and the Elastic Mind, and Design Philadelphia, where they were commissioned to outfit a bus stop in solar ivy. People who were waiting for the bus could simply plug in their cell phone to charge their battery. Solar Ivy has been featured in a number of magazines and was a concept design for a five-star luxury hotel in Zayed Bay, Abu Dhabi. Most recently, SMIT exhibited Solar Ivy at Dwell on Design for the Designboom Kitchen Ecology: Recipes for Good Design.

Novel 3D Cell Culture Device for Drug Discovery and Biopharmaceutical Production

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Brown University, 2006 - $15,236

Cells grown in a laboratory have an artificial two-dimensional environment instead of the natural 3D environment, which causes them to lose many of their natural traits, including drug response and protein protection. Inaccurate data from laboratory cells costs the pharmaceutical industry to millions on false positives and drugs that don't work.

This E-Team, known as NapTek Bioscience, has developed a 3D Petri dish known as the P3 gel, which enables scientists to culture cells in 3D. It creates tissue-like spheroids that are more similar to a cell's natural environment and provides much greater control of size and geometry. It is their hope that P3 gel will advance drug discovery and production and quickly gain market share within the cell culture industry.

Pull-Out Resistant Pedicle Screw for Osteoporotic Patients

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Johns Hopkins University, 2006 - $18,500

Each year, approximately 550,000 osteoporotic patients in the US suffer from compression fractures that require pedicle screws in order to reconstruct the spine. These patients are currently given pain management treatments instead of pedicle screws, however, because osteoporotic bone isn't strong enough to hold the screws in, or prevent them from falling out. This E-Team plans to solve the problem by developing a pull-out resistant pedicle screw. The novel design, based on a vertebral compression fracture treatment known as kyphoplasty, consists of a two-part screw involving a hollow capture chamber and a threaded inner screw. The hollow chamber is inserted into the vertebral body, then the inner screw is brought through the chamber into a wet cement adhesive. As the cement cures, the stickiness of the screw is enhanced, providing greater pull-out resistance.

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