A collapsible and reusable water bottle inspired by origami designs, live bee insulation, innovative walking and stair-climbing aids for the elderly, a pressure sensitive mat for bed-ridden patients that can aid in eliminating ulcers, and a low-cost prosthetic for below-the-elbow amputees are among the winning ideas from students in the fall 2010 Change the World Challenge at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Created to support entrepreneurship education and stimulate ideas to improve the human condition, the twice-yearly competition awards a $10,000 prize that will be shared by the winning students and student teams who develop innovative ideas and inventions. Additionally, patent application assistance is given to winning student proposals.

“The ultimate goal of the competition is to encourage students to further develop, patent, and fully realize their winning ideas — to evolve their ideas into life-changing inventions and technologies,” said Rob Chernow, vice provost for entrepreneurship at Rensselaer and chair of the competition. “Many winners have taken full advantage of the program’s support and several have gone on to win substantial funding in national and international competitions. It is clear that there is no limit to the things our students can come up with.I congratulate this group of competition winners for their exciting and inspiring ideas, and I look forward to watching them as they truly change the world.”

Each semester, students select a topic from a range of challenges with the potential to improve human life, and they offer an innovative and sustainable solution to that challenge. Examples of challenges include improving safety and security and addressing energy, water, or health issues.

In the fall 2010, semester, more than 100 undergraduate and graduate Rensselaer students submitted 55 proposals to the contest. Thirty students — representing 10 entries — were named winners of the competition and will receive funding to pursue their ideas further.

In early June, an additional $5,000 grand prize will be awarded to the team entry considered to be the “best of the best” from all of the winning entries from the fall 2010 and spring 2011 competitions, according to Chernow.

The winning ideas for the fall competition cover a range of innovative devices and technologies. “As always, the judges were challenged and very impressed with the high quality of all of the entries. There were many interesting ideas with potential for success and those selected for prizes were typically more developed and provided well-articulated and visually interesting descriptions,” Chernow said.

The 10 winning ideas:

• H2Go Water Bottle is a collapsible, reusable water bottle inspired by origami design with market potential to provide millions of users with greenback savings and a bigger green footprint. Created by Jason King ’13.
• L.I.M.B Intelligent Prosthetic Hand offers a considerably lower-cost, functional, medical bionic made from off-the-shelf parts to enable below-the-elbow amputees to grasp objects of multiple sizes, shapes, and weights. Developed by Christopher Wending ’11, Lesley Wu ’11, James Thompson ’11, R. Barrett Rehr ’12, and Javad Rafiee ’11.
• WindMEC Energy System is a wind mechanics hybrid system combining the mechanical input from a wind turbine with the mechanical input from a non-renewable source to greatly reduce electricity dependence for commercial and institutional refrigeration and HVAC systems. Created by Andrew Cunningham ’10, Charlie Driscoll ’10, Sam Notaro ’10, and Steve Polansky ’11.
• Stair Assist is an economical stair-climbing track system designed with a built-in heart rate monitor and body balance alarm to prevent falls while giving elderly people the ability to ascend or descend a staircase under their own power. Developed by Cory Goodenough ’13 and Drew Korte ’13.
• On the Go Scooter offers a battery-powered, lightweight, foldable, and portable design that may help urban commuters enhance mobility and save energy, while reducing pollution and traffic congestion. Created by Xu Sun ’13.
• Bee Warm Insulation uses the walls of a barn, lined with traditional beeswax frames, as an insulating habitat populated by honey bees. The system’s layers of frames eliminate use of harmful materials, provides bees for crop pollination, and uses a sustainable approach to energy management Created by Dayna Polstein ’12, Timothy Jacobsen ’13, Bryan McMahon ’13, Meredith Mayes ’13, John V. Miller ’13, and Lucas Graffum ’12.
• Pressure Ulcer Sensing Mats is a combination of pressure, temperature, and blood flow sensing mats developed to alert care-givers of the need to reposition immobile, bed-ridden patients to help prevent 60,000 annual deaths due to pressure ulcer complications. Created by John Kennedy ’11.
• PRESERV Refrigerator Storage Unit is a hollow-walled system for storing refrigerated medical supplies and extending the cooled storage life during prolonged power outages in rural and underdeveloped power grids. Created by Kevin Young ’12, Andrew Emerson ’11, and Catie Gould ’11.
• Grounded Feet Shoe System is developing shoes for the elderly that aid in maintaining balance to prevent falling. Created by Lindsey Rappleyea ’13, the simple, existing technologies for vibrating insoles stimulate nerves and the stabilizing design features help the wearers in safely interacting with their environment.
• FreeForm Paper Recycling is a shredding, forming, and bonding system that reprocesses household, office, and classroom paper to outputs in strong, complex shapes (e.g. bricks, flowerpots, toys, etc.). Created by Hanhan Wang ’13, James Davis ’12, Nathan Pankowsky ’13, Cory Goodenough ’13, Adrienne Wilson ’13, and Jarrett Kunze ’13.

The Change the World Challenge was created in 2005 by Rensselaer alumnus and entrepreneur Sean O’Sullivan ’85. O’Sullivan earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer, and was a founder and first president of software firm MapInfo Corp. He has started a number of other companies and organizations, including JumpStart International, an engineering humanitarian organization headquartered in Atlanta.

Contact: Jessica Otitigbe
Phone: (518) 276-6050
E-mail: otitij@rpi.edu