The air at Stevens Institute of Technology’s campus on Wednesday, April 27 was filled with innovation as the school’s annual expo drew crowds from near and far.
“This is an exposition for engineering design teams that are multi-disciplinary and for the solutions that they come up with try to answer a societal need,” said Dr. Mo Dehghani, Stevens vice provost of research, of the showcase that began around 2009.
To count the number of inventions small and large at the exposition would be impossible. Hundreds set up booths throughout the campus inviting industrial leaders and curious minds a glimpse of the products of tomorrow.
One team of students, who cleverly coated their demonstration table with lifesavers, developed a life vest for the Navy to better train recruits. When the vest detects a diver is in danger of drowning, it automatically inflates him/her to safety.
Some startups are on their way to becoming available for you.
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Many of the trinkets and inventions at the expo had consumers in mind, such as a steering wheel with ECG sensors that can detect when the driver is having a medical emergency and contact 9-11.
Or how about a nonalcoholic beer, concocted with a mixture of calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium chloride, and electrolytes, to treat hangover symptoms?
The projects explored a variety of disciplines including cyber security, medicine, financial risk management, video game design, art and education.
“My favorite part of the expo is the teamwork and how everything comes together,” added Dehghani. “It’s great that some of them mature into products and then develop for mass use.”
In fact, some startups are on their way to becoming available for you. Nova Fit, a fitness equipment company that just two years ago premiered at the startup, will hit the market in June.
Expect to also see Scrumptious Secrets from Vermont and Mountables gain some buzz.
The former is a gift and subscription box company that bundles together an assortment of non-processed products from Vermont for a sweet result and the latter offers a convenient wall-mount to charge your iOS device.
“We love that students have a chance to showcase all their hard work,” said Stevens Sandra Ordonez while giving this reporter a tour.
According to Dehghani, of the 70 or so projects at the annual expo, roughly six apply for patents each year.
Steven Rodas can be reached at srodas@hudsonreporter.com.