Six Georgia Tech student teams will compete for a $20,000 cash prize during the 2018 InVenture Competition, the school’s annual innovation contest.
The InVenture contest began in 2009 by Georgia Tech faculty as a way for students from across all disciplines to show their innovation skills. Since then, InVenture has grown into a televised event.
“The InVenture Prize is a public celebration of our student inventors and entrepreneurs in a competitive environment,” said Chris Reaves, director of undergraduate research and student innovation at Georgia Tech and one of InVenture's organizers. “For the students it means their ideas have been validated.”
This year’s six finalists beat out more than 40 other teams for their spots for the gold. First place winners receive $20,000 in cash and will represent Georgia Tech in the annual ACC InVenture Prize on April 6. Second-place winners take home $10,000.
Both first- and second-place finishers will receive free U.S. patent filings by Georgia Tech’s Office of Technology Licensing and a spot in Georgia Tech’s startup accelerator program, Flashpoint.
Here are this year’s six finalists:
Memeois: Computer science majors Anushk Mittal and Joshua Wang have invented “Giphy for memes.” This all-meme platform uses machine learning to create a personalized feed for memes. Users can upload and share memes to followers.
Pedal Creator: Guitar players and music lovers now have a new gadget thanks to two mechanical engineering majors and an industrial design major. Georgia Tech students Dallas Condra, Jeremy Leff and Vanya Padmanabhan invented Disruption, an analog effects pedal that allows guaritists to create any distortion sound.
pHam: Materials sciences and engineering majors Michele Lauto, Tyler Quill, Aaron Stansell and Lucas Votaw teamed up to make coffee less acidic. The team’s mineral blended coffee filters lessens the acidity of coffee without affecting the taste.
Scal-Pal: Four biomedical engineering majors have redesigned current blade packaging to make scalpel assembly safer and more efficient. The new design “protects medical workers from the threat of exposed blades and blood borne illnesses.” The team members include Bailey Klee, Rachel Mann, Nicholas Quan and Sydney Platt.
Tensionr: Users can lighten their loads with Tensionr, a strap tensioning tool for any shaped load. Michael Bailey, Austin Forgey, Hannah Larson, Lauren Perrine and Brandon Will, all mechanical engineering majors, created a tool to making lifting large objects safer and easier.
UltraView: Sharpshooter Kolby Hanley is a materials science and engineering major who has invented an archery aiming device using 3D printing. Starlight, the aim device, will be presented during the competition; however, UltraView makes various 3D printed archery tools.
The People’s Choice Award winners take home a $5,000 cash prize. Those winners will be decided during the competition’s finale.
(Image via InVenture)
