Published Date: 03/26/2019
On March 21, the preliminary round of the Student Innovator of the Year competition was hosted by the BYU College of Engineering. 34 teams competed to continue on to the final round that will take place on March 27. The winner will receive $13,000 funding.
Contestants for the event created an idea as well as some sort of representation of their idea, whether that’s a design, animation, or a prototype. Judges at the event ranked the ideas based on impact (20%), engineering (34%), and innovation (45%).
Many ideas were presented from all the different disciplines. For example, Adam Mann, an electrical engineering student, presented his idea called “Blind Side.” It is a system that alerts a bicycle rider if they are in the blind spot of a car. He hopes that this design will prevent cycling accidents.
Grant Hagen, a computer engineering student, came with his project “Auxilium Automated Construction.” This project is inspired for roofers. According to Hagen, these men and women spend 75% of their time pulling shingles off the roof. This is grueling and time-consuming work. The machine he designed rips the shingles off the roof for them, saving time and money.
Many other electrical and computer engineers also competed in the competition. Finalists will be announced in the coming days.