Winners of the 2017 IEEE Maker Project Competition Announced

Grand Prize awarded to electronic pacifier that measures body temperature in children while illuminated electric violin secures second place

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IEEE

Jan 18, 2018, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, today announced the winners of the 2017 IEEE Maker Project Competition. The contest challenged innovators and tech enthusiasts worldwide to showcase their ideas and talent in original technology projects built or created using hardware or software in a variety of categories.

The 2017 IEEE Maker Project Competition Grand Prize has been awarded to "Bubu Digital," an electronic pacifier that measures body temperature as a way to help parents detect diseases in children and also help governments and medical researchers reduce child mortality. Low-cost microcontrollers and sensors in the pacifier measure body temperature and send the data to an application that then triggers an alert when the temperature is above or below a normal range. The collected data is stored in databases that may be used by public administration and health professionals. The winning project was created by Rychard Nunes Guedes, Adjamilton Medeiros de Almeida Junior and Júlio Cézar Coêlho Barbosa Torquato from Brazil.

All three creators will share the US$500 first prize award and the "Bubu Digital" project will be spotlighted on IEEE Transmitter, The Institute, and in IEEE Potentials magazine. To help take the invention to the next level, they will also receive a video mentoring session with IEEE Senior member Tom Coughlin, a lifelong advocate of the maker movement who served as one of the judges and hosted the IEEE Maker Project video series.

"Engineers are constantly looking for innovative ways to solve complex problems through the use of technology," says Coughlin. "The competitors in this year's IEEE Maker Project Competition proved that the future is strong for our engineering community with their efforts to develop technologies that benefit society for years to come."

Innovative Runner-up and Category-Specific Entries
"Spectra Illuminated Electric Violins," built by David Deininger, was awarded second prize and US$250. Deininger invented a violin that puts on a dazzling display of lights as it is played, giving an audience a musically inspired light show.

The contest also awarded category winners, each of which received US$50 prizes:

Accessibility – iFarm, a device to monitor atmospheric conditions remotely
Education – MoonTripKit, an augmented reality kit promoting childhood STEM education
Entertainment – Voice-controlled toy Lamborghini
Health and Safety – GyroRing, a wearable ring for Parkinson's disease diagnosis
Sustainability -- Belt&Light: Dim-to-warm LED lamp for massive DIY deployment
Transportation -- Smart robot for railway track inspection system
Other -- Do-it-yourself acoustic levitator for improved diagnosis and microgravity studies

For more information on the 2017 IEEE Maker Project Competition winners, visit https://transmitter.ieee.org/winners-2017-ieee-maker-project-competition-announced/

The IEEE Maker Project competition was conducted from May 16 - October 17, 2017, and is a global, open and inclusive competition. Entrants 18 years or older were invited to submit an engineering project that solved complex problems and had applications for the real world. Prize winners at all levels were chosen on a content review process wherein a panel of judges reviewed all entries and ranked them based on originality, innovation and the benefit to humanity.

About IEEE
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SOURCE IEEE