Michigan Tech's Annual Undergraduate Expo
HOUGHTON -- Seventy-seven teams gathered in the ballroom of Michigan Tech to showcase their innovative designs in the 11th Annual Undergraduate Expo.
One side of the ballroom featured Senior Designs which range from wind powered machines to the Jaipur Foot.
“It’s a prosthetic foot that’s used over in India. It is mostly for people who live below the poverty line. If they have a foot amputated, they still have to maintain their daily lifestyles,” said Victoria Demers, Jaipur Foot improvement designer.
“What we came up with is just lighter weight materials. As you can see inside the foot we replaced the microcellular rubber. So we just tried to use the same materials that they are currently using which are already available in India,” said Allison Lebousky, Jaipur Foot improvement designer.
The Enterprise Teams can start working on one or multiple projects beginning their sophomore year.
Velovations Enterprise works with bicycles. The student designers created a power take-off unit.
It is designed so the moving bicycle chain can power various devices like a grain mill.
Many teams are sponsored by the community and various companies but students behind, Nanotech Innovations, are self funding through sales of their graphite crystals to other universities.
Instead of using mechanical motors to help people in physical therapy, one Tech design team uses air powered muscles which better mimics the human body.
“Your muscles create an electronic signal so it’s using your own muscle signals to produce the movement that you want,” said student Carl Seidel.
This expo gives students the opportunity to showcase their designs and share what they have learned in solving real world problems.
The projects are judged and the winners will be announced Friday.
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