Announcing Our 2024 Finalists
Congratulations to the seven finalists who will be competing for the Grand Prize during a live presentation round in November:
AstroAnt: A Miniature Symbiotic Robotic Serving on the Outside Surfaces of Spacecraft, Rovers, and Landers for Inspection and Diagnostic Tasks
Cosmetic Silica Upcycled from Rice Husk as Natural Alternative to Microplastic Powders
Laser-Generated Anti-Icing and Anti-Fogging Transparent Materials
Multi-Modal Traffic Detection System
NETrolyze: A Novel Immunotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
RHOBARR Barrier Dispersions Platform
Thin-Film Thermoelectric Cooling Device
Watch this space for more announcements, including the Top 100 entries and Top Ten most popular.
Help build a better tomorrow
Since Tech Briefs magazine launched the Create the Future Design contest in 2002 to recognize and reward engineering innovation, over 15,000 design ideas have been submitted by engineers, students, and entrepreneurs in more than 100 countries. Join the innovators who dared to dream big by entering your ideas today.
Read About Past Winners’ Success Stories
Special Report spotlights the eight top entries in 2023 as well as past winners whose ideas are now in the market, making a difference in the world.
Click here to read moreA ‘Create the Future’ Winner Featured on ‘Here’s an Idea’
Spinal cord injury affects 17,000 Americans and 700,000 people worldwide each year. A research team at NeuroPair, Inc. won the Grand Prize in the 2023 Create the Future Design Contest for a revolutionary approach to spinal cord repair. In this Here’s an Idea podcast episode, Dr. Johannes Dapprich, NeuroPair’s CEO and founder, discusses their groundbreaking approach that addresses a critical need in the medical field, offering a fast and minimally invasive solution to a long-standing problem.
Listen nowThank you from our Sponsors
“At COMSOL, we are very excited to recognize innovators and their important work this year. We are grateful for the opportunity to support the Create the Future Design Contest, which is an excellent platform for designers to showcase their ideas and products in front of a worldwide audience. Best of luck to all participants!”
— Bernt Nilsson, Senior Vice President of Marketing, COMSOL, Inc.
“From our beginnings, Mouser has supported engineers, innovators and students. We are proud of our longstanding support for the Create the Future Design Contest and the many innovations it has inspired.”
— Kevin Hess, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Mouser Electronics
contest/2019
2019
GRAND PRIZE
The ULiSSES™ Device for Organ and Limb Preservation
Leonid Bunegin, Rafael J Veraza, and Tom DeBrooke, Vascular Perfusion Solutions Inc., San Antonio, TX, USA
AEROSPACE & DEFENSE CATEGORY
The Foldable Drone: A Morphing Quadrotor that can Squeeze and Fly
Davide Falanga, Kevin Kleber, Stefano Mintchev, Dario Floreano, and Davide Scaramuzza, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Honorable Mention – Aerospace & Defense Category
Exponential Engine
Frank Ardezzone, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Augmented Reality Monitoring System for Aircraft Wiring Maintenance
Daryian Rhysing, Evaguel Rhysing, and Donald DeVito, United Aircraft Technologies, Dover, DE, USA
Impregnated Epoxy Actuators Paired with a Sparse-Array Sensor Grid for Detection of Composite Barely Visible Damage
Zhaoyuan Leong, Nicola Morley, and Pratik Desai, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Controlled Flight into Terrain Prevention
Charles Wood, Orange, CA, USA
AUTOMOTIVE/TRANSPORTATION CATEGORY
The World's First Standalone AC (Alternating Current) Battery
Tadashi Kubo and Farazane Taraie, AC Biode Ltd., Chiba, Japan
Honorable Mention – Automotive/Transportation Category
Camless Glide Valve Engine Technology
Jeff England, Robert G. McLean, and Gary Cotton, Grace Capital Partners, North Little Rock, AR, USA
Conrodless Ultra-Low-Vibration Engine Using Z Mechanism
Kyoko Yoshizawa, Takumi Yoshizawa, Yutaka Yoshizawa, and Satoshi Yoshizawa, Z Mechanism Technology Institute, Yonezawa, Japan
Reversible Magnetic Transmission for Electric Vehicles
Earl Douglass, Roller Clutch Tools, Auburn, CA, USA
Flit Lightweight Folding Ebike
Dave Henderson, Flit, Cambridge, UK
CONSUMER PRODUCTS CATEGORY
Livox
Carlos Edmar Pereira and Paulo Henrique Araujo de Menezes Rodrigues, Livox International LLC, Orlando, FL, USA
Honorable Mention – Consumer Products Category
The IFS: Learning Code without Screens from the Age of Three
Luis Martin, Esther Borao, Fergus Reig, and Borja Latorre, The IFs, Makeroni Labs, Zaragoza, Spain
Beddingo – The First Reinvention of Sheets in 100 Years
Yonatan Guy, Beddingo, Tel Aviv, Israel
Braille II
Aliaksei Khomchanka, Hamburg, Germany
Beachill
Antoine Sayah, Beachill, Keserouan, Lebanon
ELECTRONICS/SENSORS/IoT CATEGORY
Simple Cost-Effective Sensor for Early Detection of Battery Faults
Steve Risser, Jim Saunders, Alex Morrow, Kevin Spahr, Krista Smith, Russ Kittel, Ben Eisenmann, and Flora Li, Battelle, Columbus, OH, USA
Honorable Mention – Electronics/Sensors/IoT Category
Write Once Read Forever Archival Data Storage
Eric Rosenthal, Richard Solomon, Jonathan Smith, Clark Johnson, and Brian Solomon, Creative Technology LLC, Hockessin, DE, USA
Smart Beat
Nate Ruben, Smart Beat, Smithfield, UT, USA
Eye of Horus: Open Source Eye Tracking System
Jorge Mata Arribas, Luis Martín, Esther Borao, Fergus Reig, and Borja Latorre, The IFs, Makeroni Labs, Zaragoza, Spain
iAED – Life Saving Phone
Samantha J. Horseman, Curtis Gonter, Chris Adusei -Poku , Hawra Al Dawood, and Maryam Al Ghareeb, efactory IT Future Center, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
MANUFACTURING/ROBOTICS/AUTOMATION CATEGORY
High-Speed Joining of Metal to Plastics with the HPCI® Joining Gun
Philipp Goetze, Annett Klotzbach, and Maurice Langer, Fraunhofer IWS, Dresden, Germany
Honorable Mention – Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation Category
Puncture-healing Engineered Polymer Blends
Keith Gordon, Brian Grimsley, Roberto Cano, Michael Czabag, Emilie Siochi, Dennis Working, and Russell Smith, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; Scott Savada and Timothy Scott, University of Michigan, USA
Solid State Batteries: Better, Faster, Cheaper Using Plastic Injection Molding Technology
Marc Jaker, JAKERTECH, New Brighton, MN, USA
AweSEM: Increasing Access to High-Resolution Imaging with a Low-Cost Scanning Electron Microscope
Casimir Kuzyk, Gabriel Robinson-Leith, Alex Dimitrakopoulos, David Weekes, Fabian Pease, and Alireza Nojeh, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
3D Printing Technology of the Future
Justin Nussbaum, Ascend Manufacturing, Knoxville, TN, USA
MEDICAL CATEGORY
Cervical Stabilization Device (CSD)
Benjamin Booher, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Honorable Mention – Medical Category
Monitoring of the Central Blood Pressure Waveform Via a Conformal Ultrasonic Device
Chonghe Wang, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Apparatus and Method for Donning Hygienic Gloves
Martin Harrison and Steve B. Kalish, HYGIENEXT, Chicago, IL, USA
Biomimetic 3D-Printed Scaffolds for Spinal Cord Injury Repair
Jacob Koffler, Wei Zhu, Shaochen Chen, and Mark Tuszynski, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Body-on-a-Chip
Anthony Atala, Colin Bishop, Adam Hall, John Jackson, Sang Jin Lee, Sean Murphy, Tom Shupe, Aleks Skardal, Shay Soker, and James Yoo, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES CATEGORY
Wave2O – Clean Water from Ocean Waves
Olivier Ceberio, Resolute Marine, Boston, MA, USA
Honorable Mention – Sustainable Technologies Category
A New Architecture for Safe Lithium-Ion Batteries
Carl Hu, Soteria Battery Innovation Group, Greenville, SC, USA
Energy-efficient “Greenest” Air Conditioner that Cools without Warming the Planet
Kian Jon Ernest Chua, National University of Singapore
Astropharmacy
Arvind Veluvali, Allison Lin, Sophia Zheng, William Brakewood, and Alexandra Rempe, Brown University; Cameron Park, Alexander Somero, Teaghan Cowles, and Cale Lester, Stanford University; Dominique WuDunn and Mary Elizabeth Adler, Princeton University; Lynn Rothschild, Patrick Brennock, and Tomasz Zajkowski, NASA Ames Research Center. USA
Engineering a Plastic-Eating Enzyme
Gregg Beckham, Bryon Donohoe, Nicholas Rorrer, William Michener, Michael Crowley, and Christopher W. Johnson. National Renewable Energy Laboratory; John McGeehan, Harry Austin, Mark Allen, and Alan Thorne, University of Portsmouth; Fiona Kearns, Benjamin Pollard, and H. Lee Woodcock, University of South Florida; Rodrigo Silveira and Munir Skaf, University of Campinas; Ramona Duman, Kamel El Omari, Vitaliy Mykhaylyk, and Armin Wagner, Diamond Light Source; Graham Dominick and Lilly Amore (formerly of National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
TOP TEN MOST POPULAR ENTRIES
Life Shot: On-Site Tissue Repair Solution
Victor Manuel Castano, Enrique Isaza, and Duverney Gaviria, Biotriskel Biotechnologies, Pereira, Colombia
Automatic Counting Device
Champak Bora, Guwahati, India
Algae Biodiesel: A Sustainable Fuel for the Power Generation Sector
Alpesh Mehta and Nirvesh S. Mehta, Godhra, India
Crushing Bottles of Water and Aluminum/Paper Cans
Bbasali Bagheri and Vahid Asghari, Elmosanat, Qaem Shahr, Iran
Artificial Intelligence Multi-Meter
Shubham Avhad, Tanmay Gore, Vikrant Chincholkar, and Vedant Satpute, Pune, India
Flit Lightweight Folding Ebike
Dave Henderson, Flit, Cambridge, UK
Ice Tech
Alexander Vargas Almeida, Gladys del Carmen Velázquez López, Daniel Ceballo López, Alexis Eduardo del Río Olivé, José Manuel Candelero Sánchez, and Norma del Carmen Domínguez Rodríguez, Tabasco, Mexico
Eye Gaze Interactions
Irfan Ahmed, Hamza Ahmed, Adeel Ahmed Awan, Sana Nadeem, and Haziq Tanveer, Karachi, Pakistan
Camless Glide Valve Engine Technology
Jeff England, Robert G. McLean, and Gary Cotton, Grace Capital Partners, North Little Rock, AR, USA
Kiwi™ - Monitor what was Previously Impossible
Jonathan Gregg, Skyhawk, Derry, NH, USA
BackgroundThe province of Nova Scotia (NS) in Canada has been shown to have very high levels of radon emissions which is often concentrated indoors in the basement of different houses.
Pump ambient air (which contains CO2) into a plastic tank, filled with sea water, through a gas distributor. Carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air will dissolve in the sea water. The surface of the sea water should be exposed to direct sunlight.
Poop and pee. Everyone does it, but no one’s comfortable talking about it. It’s a conversation not suitable for your first date (I would hope), or one to have with your colleagues, but it’s completely normal, a vital bodily function, and is a universal part of the human experience.
Torque control
Power assist wheelchairs work best when there is a torque feedback, measuring the user input torque and using it to determine the torque the motor needs to supply to the wheels.
Riskut – A New Approach to Device and Data Security
A new category in the mobile device and data protection marketplace.
Riskut is the initial product offering of the ProximID Group, which has developed unique solutions based on security by proximity.
C.I.T.U.
(sigh-too)
Centrifuge Interface Transfer and Utilities
Spacecraft Tunnel
Leonard J. Holmin
United States of America
Allows shirtsleeves crew transfer and uninterrupted utility lines between a despun base block module and the center of a revolving human spaceflight habitat. Applications could include an improved swivel conduit,
A recent study, “Reduced mixing time in stirred vessels by means of irregular impellers" (S. Başbuğ, G. Papadakis, and J. C. Vassilicos
Phys. Rev. Fluids 3, 084502 – Published 21 August 2018),
Design Statement:
Design consists of the following main parts.
1. Panels
2. Steer Wire Rope / Steel Bars or Tubes
3. Lap Lock Joint
4. Earth Foundation Pillars
5. Free Foundation Pillars
Fabrication and Construction:
Install the main pillar, that will support its own panel’
We use a robust, high-accuracy simulation model of the human head to optimize an American football helmet to reduce the likelihood of concussion and the long term development of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Sports related concussions have been in the spotlight ever since the discovery of CTE,
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