Twenty-two groups of UW undergraduates entered unique inventions into the 10th annual Innovation Days, which took place in the Engineering Centers Building Thursday and Friday.
Students competed for the Schoofs Prize for Creativity and the Tong Prototype Prize, awarded based on creativity and likeliness to succeed in the marketplace.
UW seniors Nicholas Passint, Joe Cessna and Bryan Wilson captured first place in the Schoofs Prize for Creativity Friday, winning $10,000 for their originality in a UW contest for making original devices.
“[It] is a great first step for students in presenting their ideas to the world, receiving feedback, feeling the euphoria of winning the contest or feeling the rejection but also feeling the drive to prove us wrong as judges,” said Matt Younkle, a judge for Innovation Days.
The three first-place winners won for their invention Ice Net X, a retractable landing net intended for reliable and safe ice fishing. The net closes to fit down small holes and opens up, once under the ice, to capture large fish. They developed the idea in Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics (EMA) 469 last semester.
Passint explained ice fishermen have difficulties landing big fish because the line oftentimes catches on the bottom of the ice or on the teeth of the fish. Ice Net X, however, collapses on the fish and prevents line breakage, and the resulting loss of dinner. Also, for those who practice “catch and release,” Ice Net X is a safe alternative to spearing a fish with a gaff hook to retrieve it out of the water.
Aaron Wallander received $2,500 for first place in the Tong Prototype Prize contest. He invented a polymer pellet separator that divides pellets via density. Mike Casper and Anthony Nichol came in second place in the Schoofs Prize for Creativity for their BriteIce Technology. By means of fiber optics and clear film, Casper and Nichol created an under-the-ice system in hockey rinks to illuminate advertisements and logos.
They said BriteIce Technology advertisements are better than traditional painted ads because they may be turned off during plays and several of the advertisements can fit on ice. They hope to move forward and sell their concept to the Badgers hockey home at the Kohl Center.
“This competition has been very nice because we probably wouldn’t have developed it on our own just because there are so many small steps we could have overlooked,” Nichol said. “This competition basically walks you through every step of the process.”
Other inventions included a computerized drug dispenser, a tub timer, a device to find lost disc-golf discs and a user-friendly tattoo machine.
UW Professor Emeritus Dean John Bollinger and UW graduates David Smukowski and Matt Younkle judged the competitions.
Younkle participated in the competition for three years while attending UW and has judged for four years.
“[Innovation Days] was the most memorable and important part of my college career at UW, so I wanted to stay a participant in the contest in some way, shape or form,” Younkle said.
In 1996, Younkle was honored with first place in the Schoofs Prize for Creativity for his Turbo Tap. His device fills a beer pitcher in about 15 seconds and reduces foaming. Innovation Days is sponsored by the UW Technology Enterprise Cooperative and funded by Richard Schoofs and Peter Tong. All undergraduates are encouraged to enter inventions for the competitions. Innovation Days will open registration for the 2005 competitions Sept. 1.
