April 22, 2008

Purdue student engineers, inventors to present new machines

The innovations, being presented by students from noon to 1 p.m. on the ground floor of the Mechanical Engineering Building, include a portable vaccine cooler for transporting vaccines in developing countries and a "rear exoskeleton" for a dog suffering a hip condition. About 20 new inventions, which were created by students in senior design courses, will be showcased at the event.

Inventions include:

* A portable vaccine cooler for transporting vaccines in developing countries;

* A swiveling endoscope tip designed to provide improved dexterity for surgeons;

* A medical "crash cart" designed to help emergency room doctors by providing vital information;

* A ping-pong-playing robot; 

* A system to tell people administering CPR whether they are pushing hard enough on a person's abdomen;

* A vertical-takeoff aircraft ; and

* A rear exoskeleton to restore mobility to a German shepherd suffering from hip dysplasia.

"These were pretty demanding projects, especially considering they had to be completed in one semester," said Ray Cipra, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Writer: Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu

Sources: Ray Cipra, (765) 494-5724, cipra@purdue.edu

John Nolfi, senior engineer and instructor, nolfijg@ecn.purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

To the News Service home page