Team Summaries

1. (com)post-haste - Home Biowaste Collection System

We propose a home biowaste collection system that will aid people in collecting food waste more efficiently and also educate users on biogas and compost production. The foodwaste collected from the system can be used to create either biogas or compost. The system will reduce the amount of foodwaste that is washed down the drain and treated in municipal water treatment, which is beneficial since the byproducts of that treatment are often unusable.

2. Aerolite - AIAA Design Build Fly Competition

Hello, we are Rice Aerolite and we will be representing the Rice community in the AIAA Design, Build, Fly competition. This competition pits us against the best universities from around the world building UAVs designed to complete a specific mission set. This year we have been tasked with building a plane that will disassemble and have its components fit in the fuselage of another plane. Slated with such a difficult challenge we will have to innovate. While there is no set market for the product we are creating, the innovations we make will yield profitable solutions to other problems.

4. Aortix Chicks - Next-Generation Aortix Pump

The Aortix Pump is a circulatory support device designed to reduce the workload of the heart in patients with Stage III - IV heart failure, who do not have current treatment options. The goal is to reduce the size of the current pump from 6 mm to 4 mm in diameter to improve safety. The Aortix must maintain 6 L/min flow, be compatible with current catheter insertion methods, and not worsen the patient's health.

5. Arovia - Spontaneous Pop-Up Display

We are making a portable 24 inch screen that's able to collapse to the size of an umbrella to fit inside a backpack. A large secondary monitor is proven to increase productivity by 30% by eliminating the need of scrolling and switching between pages. Our target customers include auditors, traveling consultants, and other professionals who work at client sites, in hotel rooms, and even on an airplane.

6. Atriumph - CLOT

Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition where the atria contracts irregularly, allowing blood to stagnate and form clots in the left atrial appendage. Our design challenge is to design an intra-cardiac device that monitors and detects clot formation in the left atrial apprendage to prevent embolic stroke in atrial fibrillation patients.

7. BacWarmers - Diagnostic Blood Incubator

Our goal is to design a blood incubator compatible with the BD assay system that is low cost, low power and easy to use. Successful completion of our project will help alleviate the high morbidity and mortality associated with bloodstream infections (BSIs) in the developing world by better equipping hospitals in low-resource settings to detect, diagnose, and treat BSIs.

8. Carpal Diem - Testing Protocol and Device for Prostheses

Team Carpal Diem will design a testing system (device or suite) to quantitatively describe the performance of body-powered upper-limb partial hand prostheses. The team aims to measure the force loss, pressure distribution, grip configuration and range- of-motion (ROM) of these prostheses.

9. Comfortably Numb - Comfortably Numb

We developed a compact and disposable device that uses an endothermic reaction to rapidly numb the skin before an injection. Through unique integration with a hypodermic needle, our device cools the entry site in thirty seconds without any chemical contact in order to achieve painless injections. With 16 billion injections given annually and 41 million Americans not receiving influenza vaccinations due to discomfort from receiving shots, our device has the potential to improve millions of lives around the world.

10. Control Release Team - Kraken Release Tool

With more wells being drilled horizontally rather than strictly vertically, particular risks emerge with this complex procedure. The fear is that an entire toolstring will get stuck within the horizontal portion of the well leading to either costly retrieval methods or ultimate failure with a break in the wireline. The Kraken Release Tool will be a reliable and cost-effective downhole tool solution when the toolstring becomes stuck. It will be electromechanical in design and will ultimately eliminate certain complications with horizontal drilling.

11. Conversate - Conversate

Conversate enhances the networking experience at conferences and conventions. At these large events, attendees make hundreds of new connections, collecting more business cards than they know what to do with. We empower attendees to easily prioritize follow-up actions and make lasting business connections by allowing them to store contact information instantly by scanning each other's QR codes with our event organizer app.

12. CycloPaths - Rice Pedicabs

Pedicabs are a common method of transportation for short distances in metropolitan areas, in which a small cart is attached to the back of a bike; a driver rides the bike and the cart carries passengers. We propose buying a pedicab unit for Rice to transport (potentially inebriated) students to and from parties on Friday and Saturday nights. This could be either a free, student-run service or a business in which we charge a fee for each pedicab ride.

13. Do You Even LIft? - Building a better sternum lifting device

The Nuss Procedure is a procedure that involves inserting a metal rod and lifting the sternum and is the most commonly prescribed corrective method for Pectus Excavatum or a sunken chest. Our goal is to design a sternum lifting device that will positively impact the outcome of this procedure by creating space for the insertion of the metal rod between the heart and the sternum, reducing the risk to the patient. The other focus of our project is ensuring that we can account for the age variation of the patients and apply an even force distribution for consistent sternum lift.

14. EagleEye - Tactile Vision Substitution System

Team EagleEye aims to adapt the vest created by NeoSensory, Inc. to a vision-to-touch implementation for blind individuals. Our project focuses on designing adjunct depth sensing interface hardware to connect a visual input to the vest. Additionally, we will be running training and experiments with blind participants.

16. Express Yourself - Express Pump

We believe that breastfeeding is a vital part of development to all infants, and that women everywhere need access to breast pumps. For these reasons, we want to expand access to breast pumps by designing a low-cost mechanical breast pump that has a sustainable design for low-resource settings. Our Express Pump does just that – it combines the comfort and efficiency of an electric breast pump with a sustainable design, relieving women in cities like Blantyre, Malawi from hand-expressing breast milk for their premature children.

17. Five Guys and Ribeyes - Temperature Gradient Meat Thermometer

Consistently grilling the perfect steak is not a task for the faint of heart. Current kitchen thermometers only measure temperature at a single point in the meat. Examining texture and color takes years of experience to master and can be misleading. Suggested cooking times in recipes may not be applicable for your cooking environment. Worry not! There is still hope.   Five Guys and Ribeyes is designing a gradient meat thermometer capable of producing the temperature profile of your steak. With this device, you can rest assured you will be cooking professional quality steaks in no time - every time!

18. FlowMasters - Real-time Urine Flow Measurement Device

Our design challenge is to develop a device that provides a real-time measurement of urine output by volume. Our device will be used in a multitude of settings and automatically transfer data wirelessly to the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) as an encrypted file. The device will allow health professionals to easily and accurately monitor urine output of the patient via the EMR. We plan to deliver a device that is low-cost, user-centric, and compatible with Foley catheters that are widely used for urine drainage in ICUs.

19. Hippo Riders - Horse Motion Simulator

The goal of this design project is to create a affordable mechanical horse-motion simulator that could bring the benefits of hippotherapy to a larger population. The system must simulate the appropriate non-periodic three dimensional motion, while being safe and reliable for users.

20. Joey 101 - Kangaroo Mother Care Monitor

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a system used to aid in thermoregulation, breathing regulation, infection prevention and breastfeeding promotion for premature infants via skin-to-skin contact. In low-resource countries, KMC is an effective, low-cost alternative to an incubator that has the potential to save 450,000 premature infants each year. However, if performed incorrectly, KMC is not beneficial and babies can develop hypothermia and infection. Our device would aid healthcare professionals in properly monitoring this life-saving intervention.

21. Let's Taco Bout It - Let's Taco Bout It

"Let's Taco Bout It" is a non-profit taco restaurant and wellbeing advocate combination business targeted at college students. Although the primary business is a taco restaurant, we would also have professionally trained staff who would be available for walk-in consultation and open conversation with taco-buying customers and could refer customers to local doctors or services. Our goal is to provide a discreet service in a familiar social environment for young adults who may not feel comfortable openly approaching wellbeing centers or clinics about their problems because of what it implies and help people take the first step towards emotional self-awareness.

22. Mosquito Magnets - A Novel Approach to Combating Mosquito-Vectored Diseases

Widely considered the most dangerous animals in the world, mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting numerous deadly diseases (e.g. Malaria, Ebola, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, Filariasis, the West Nile virus) that account for over one million deaths and 500-700 million infections annually. Because many of the aforementioned diseases are either fatal or have no viable vaccines, scientific attention has shifted to mosquito control - a flawed field that has largely focused on extinguishing mosquitoes. In my project, I developed an effective, yet cost-efficient mosquito trap through extensive olfactory analysis with the potential to revolutionize the mosquito-infested lives of Houstonians and beyond.

23. Navigators - Room-to-Room Navigation

Our app Usher accurately guides the visually impaired inside buildings from room to room. We integrate floor plans and other essential spatial data into our platform and create a map for each building, which can be downloaded before entering. With Usher, the visually impaired will be able to navigate complex buildings with independence and ease.

24. NeuroNates - BabyWaves

In low-and-middle income countries (LMICs), monitoring of neonatal brain activity is unfeasible due to the high cost of the EEG device, reliance on disposables, and lack of trained personnel who can distinguish between normal and abnormal EEG signals. Currently, the only way for hospital staff to determine whether a newborn is seizing is through physical manifestations such as twitches and convulsions. A device which can aid in the detection of neonatal seizures that is low cost, reusable, and easy to use has the potential to revolutionize pediatric neurological care in LMICs

25. nWay - nWay - Efficiency in in the palm of your hand

A navigation app for a hospital's patients to quickly, easily, and efficiently reach their appointments by providing directions to available parking and then turn-by-turn navigation to their appointment within the hospital. Additionally informs doctors how far away the patient is within the hospital, so the doctor knows whether to wait or begin with the next patient.   Increases patient satisfaction and decreases time lost by doctors waiting for patients and rescheduling missed appointments, leading to a decrease in hospital costs and an increased Medicare reimbursement for the hospital.

26. OcuCheck - Corporate Eye Exams - Delivered.

OcuCheck facilitates on-site eye exams for corporate clients. By sponsoring on-site eye exams for their employees, HR managers can demonstrate their commitment to employee wellness, decrease lost productivity from employee time off work, and reduce workforce medical insurance costs in the long term. Employees get quick and convenient eye exams with no commute and minimal out-of-pocket cost.

27. OutSTENTing - Redesigned Ureteral Stent

The purpose of our project is to redesign a stent removal method that will eliminate the need for general anesthesia in pediatric patients undergoing a cystoscopy. We intend to either redesign the stent itself or the entire removal process. By redesigning this, we can make a significant impact not only on the field of pediatric urology but urology as a whole.

29. Pre-ictal Predictors - Digital Cure for Epilepsy

Over 1 million Americans suffer from intractable epilepsy and require alternative methods for seizure management. Our goal is to develop an implantable neurostimulator device which will predict a seizure before it occurs and deliver low-frequency electrical stimulation to mitigate the oncoming seizure.  Our focus this year is to develop and implement real-time machine learning algorithms for seizure prediction using specialized hardware.

30. Project Posiedon - Innovative Deep-Sea Energy Storage

As oil drilling operations descend to greater depths, new challenges arise in storing energy for blowout preventers (BOPs). The horrific Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010 was a call for the industry to rethink many aspects of these BOP systems We will design and prove a concept for a power-supply system capable of storing energy and delivering it expediently to deep-sea BOPs, enhancing safety and efficiency standards for all deep-sea oil rig operations.

31. QUADSQUAD - Quadruped

Three years ago Cameron sponsored Rice U. students to develop a device to harvest energy that is potentially wasted during normal human motion. Our team is at a point where we are seeking to optimize previously developed energy harvesting technology. Based on known available potential power we would like to propose development of a fourth generation device.

32. R.A.C.E. - Autonomous Motorcycle

Modern society has grown to view two-wheeled vehicles like motorcycles as exhilarating modes of transportation that show off a rider’s strong sense of adventure and need for speed.  Furthermore, the media has glamorized these motored bicycles, while technological advances have made automation in many aspects of life a desirable trait of the future.  Together, glamorous motorcycles and desired automation are capable of merging to form a technology of the future – a two-wheeled, automated motorcycle – that team R.A.C.E. (the Rice AutoCycle Engineers) hopes to bring to the present.

33. revIVe - An Infusion Pump for Low Resource Settings

In the developing world, healthcare workers must choose between delivering IV fluids at an uncontrolled rate or withholding fluids from patients. If the IV fluid flow rate is too fast, the patient risks experiencing kidney failure and possible drug overdose. In turn, if the flow rate is too slow, the patient does not receive enough fluids. Our device aims to provide a solution to delivering large, exact volumes of fluid with a precise flow rate. We will work with Rice 360 and global health specialists in the field to design and test our device for use in developing countries.

34. Rice WNR - Wireless Neural Recorder

Current intercranial EEGs that record neural data are hardwired restricting the movement of epilepsy patients to their beds for extended periods of monitoring. Wireless Neural Recorder's mission is to untether the patient and increase their quality of life while also increasing their quality of care. We are building a real-time, low-power, wireless monitoring device that captures EEG data and securely transmits it securely to a computer without the need for the patient to be confined to their bed.  Our applications are limitless as there is currently no other device on the market does wireless neural activity recording.

35. Savvy Stent - Designing Affordable and Effective AAA Monitoring System

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a serious condition that can cause major fatalities. Patients have to be closely monitored even after stent graft placement at the sight of the aneurysm. However, CT scans, today’s gold standard for AAA stent graft monitoring, pose significant radiation risks and cost burdens. Savvy Stent will challenge this status quo by introducing a new device for monitoring AAA stent grafts.

36. Serpentelligence - In-Pipe Robot Navigator

The Oil & Gas Industry has over 2.5 million miles of pipeline in the US and spends over $500 million every year on maintenance; however, there were still over 100 deaths in 2013 alone. Team Serpentelligence aims to solve these issues with the Pipebot. This intelligent navigation and maintenance robot will map complex oil well boreholes and pipelines to detect faults and reduce onshore and offshore downtime, saving money and lives.

37. Shell Shock - Shell Shock

The goal of our project is to develop a method using additive manufacturing, namely 3D printing, to create supports to increase the stiffness or improve the resistance to shock loading. Shock loading is currently solved by using encapsulants, a resin that the board is covered with and allowed to harden to increase the stiffness. However, if thermal loads or thermal cycling is present, the encapsulants introduce large amounts of thermal stress. Our goal is to develop a better method.

38. Shopswap - Shopswap

Shop swap is a way to recreate the social experience of shopping with friends in the form of an app to revolutionize online shoppibng

39. Simply Speech - Simply Speech

Our goal is to eliminate public speaking anxiety by providing an easy and more efficient way to rehearse presentations. We want to use video and voice analysis techniques to quantify presentation skills and provide measurable feedback to help people perfect their delivery.

40. SpeakEasy - Intelligent Training System For Public Speaking

Our team is working on a software based personal trainer to assist people during their preparations for public speaking. SpeakEasy brings in the power of modern computer vision, speech analysis and virtual reality to give powerful feedback on your oration. It uses computer vision to analyze body language and facial expressions; speech analysis to comment on control of the voice; and Google Cardboard based virtual reality to simulate a real world scenario to help alleviate social anxiety.

41. Step Tech - Design the next level Omni treadmill for the virtual reality company Virtuix by incorporating haptic and audiovisual feedback.

We aim to create new features for the Omni platform that enhance the core product. These features will specifically target the rapidly growing eSports and VR Arcade market opportunities.  In addition to the ambulatory motion tracking features currently in place, we will service the delivery of additional sensory input, such as haptic feedback. These additional features could greatly enhance the players’ immersion into the VR experience while also improving the entertainment value for those watching the Omni player in action.

42. The Babyseaters - Infant Car Seat Cooling and Alert System

Team Babyseaters has been tasked with constructing an alert and cooling system capable of attaching to any car seat. The purpose of said system is to alert caretakers of any children mistakenly left in the car while also preventing hyperthermia. In addition to these two factors, the project will aim to create a cost-effective, comfortable, and seamless solution that will reduce the number of children killed or injured by hyperthermic automobile conditions worldwide.

43. Tube Much - Novel Endotracheal Tube Design

Endotracheal tubes (ETT) are used to administer general anesthesia and to ventilate the lungs during surgical procedures.. An estimated 51.7 million intubations are performed yearly in the United States using endotracheal tubes. Current ETT designs must compromise between a diameter that allows visibility and provides sufficient airflow to the lungs. This compromise makes intubation difficult and leads to complications that ultimately become major medical and financial burdens to the patient.. Our team has been tasked with designing an endotracheal tube that minimizes patient discomfort and eases the intubation process.

44. Universitea - Universitea

Universitea is a private business operated by students that produces boba tea on Rice’s campus. It eliminates the logistical and supply problems caused by a product highly demanded on campus with no on campus suppliers. Universitea acts as both a wholesaler and retailer; supplying clubs during the afternoons, and selling directly to students at night in their college commons. By manufacturing boba tea at the source of its demand, using on campus facilities for production, and employing students, Universitea makes a high-quality product in a cost minimizing process. Universitea flexibly meets the unmet demand for boba tea at Rice University.

45. Vzno - Vzno

We are a local, community-driven startup that facilitates the completion of everyday errands by pairing people who have the same needs. Our focus is to optimize the delivery process by connecting people who require goods to people who are already planning on taking a trip to the same establishment. Users can request help through a review-based directory for their goods to be delivered to a designated location or choose to ride along and carpool with the driver providing the service.

46. WombOx - WombOx

Some minimally invasive fetal surgeries can carry a serious risk for fetal hypoxia due to potential intraoperative complications but there is currently no viable method to measure a fetus's blood oxygen level during pregnancy. We are developing a device to monitor fetal blood oxygen during minimally invasive fetal surgery that can be quickly and safely delivered and retrieved. The ability to monitor intraoperative fetal oxygenation may have a great impact in clinical practice, could provide important insight into fetal wellbeing, and prevent the occurrence of adverse intraoperative events.

47. Wounder Women - Dynamic Diabetic Foot Ulcer Simulator

There currently exists no standard of home wound care education for diabetic patients who are at significant risk of chronic, infected foot wounds. Our product is a dynamic simulation system with accompanying training material that can be used in hospitals to educate patients in diabetic wound care. This will be the first product available in the market that can simulate a variety of diabetic wounds dynamically and respond to treatment in order to best meet the needs of patients.

48. Ziel Solutions - Ziel Sensory Sleeve

The Ziel sensory sleeve helps baseball pitchers reduce the risk of arm injuries. The rate of arm injuries in baseball is at an all time high, yet current methods for minimizing injury are impractical and ineffective. Athletes will wear the Ziel sensory sleeve over their throwing arm, pair it via bluetooth to a mobile device, and begin pitching. Through sensors that combine muscle and motion analysis, the sleeve relays real time feedback to the smartphone about the major risk factors for injury, such as muscle fatigue and stress exerted on the arm.