Georgia Tech competition spurs inventions

By Laura Diamond

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Imagine a headset that senses when drivers are becoming drowsy and beeps to keep them awake.

How about a pump, powered by a car, that can provide water access throughout the developing world.

Maybe perfection would be a redesigned French press that prevents coffee from becoming bitter.

Those are just three inventions among the eight finalists for Georgia Tech's prestigious InVenture Prize. The contest rewards undergraduate students for their innovation, creativity and sense of adventure.

The first-place inventor or team wins $15,000 and second-place gets $10,000. Tech's Office of Technology Licensing also will pay to file those inventions with the U.S. Patent Office. The winner will be announced during a live broadcast of the competition at 7 p.m. Wednesday on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Several students were inspired by world problems.

A group of six students invented a new pump after aid workers mentioned they had a hard time getting water out of wells in developing countries. Students made the device out of items one can find in a junkyard, including rollers, compressors and air tanks. The tool, which can fit in a car trunk, is powered by cars.

Besides getting water out of wells, students said the pump could benefit areas hit by natural disasters by pumping out water or powering tools and machines.

"To be successful it must be useful and it must have more than one use," said Simon Clark, a mechanical engineering major and one of the inventors.

The team said the apparatus will soon be tested in Nicaragua and elsewhere.

Some inventors were spurred into action because they were dissatisfied with existing products.

Sarah Vaden, an aerospace engineering major, used to spend more than one hour tuning her drum. Then she developed a way to do it in less the 20 minutes.

She uses a foot pump connected with tubing that blows air into the head of the drum. She can tune the drum while playing it, just by bouncing her foot up and down on the pump.

"I was just so frustrated with tuning and then the idea hit me in chemistry class," Vaden said. "It completely transformed my music and makes it so much easier to play gigs. What musician wouldn't want this?"

A team of six students invented the Koozie Cooler, which they said improves on the portable beverage holder by keeping the contents colder longer.

This Koozie is egg-shaped and weighs about as much as a can of soda because of a fan at the bottom designed to push heat away from the beverage. The device, which runs on rechargeable batteries, can cool a drink faster than a refrigerator, said Matthew Hickey, one of the inventors.

"We did market research with tailgaters and it was a big hit," said Hickey, a mechanical engineering major. "We think the sweet spot to sell this will be $30. I think we'd do really well at the games."

Tech could benefit from these student inventors, who have the potential to become future donors.

Patrick Whaley designed weighted exercise clothing people can wear without any limitations on movement.

The mechanical engineering major took solidified hydrogel, which he said had the consistency of Jell-O, and used a pizza cutter to slice the material into shapes. Then he strategically placed it in cotton shirts so it felt like an extension of one's muscles. The shirts weigh about 15 pounds.

People can work out while wearing the shirts and not damage their joints, said Whaley, who wore the shirts during his physical therapy after being shot in May.

Whaley already received about 150 orders from college and high school athletes and has attracted interest from professional teams. Should he win, Whaley will invest the money into the product.

What will he do with profits?

"The plan will be to give back to Tech," Whaley said. "I love this school and I bleed gold and black. I want to help them change other people's lives."