Florida Intercollegiate Competition in Technological Innovation

GET STARTED
1
Request Info
2
Visit
3
Apply
ficti-1240x550
FICTI is a pitch competition to showcase the most exciting STEM student-led innovation projects from Florida universities at eMerge Americas, a unique convening of global enterprises, leading startups and government leaders focused on innovative solutions transforming industries. FICTI is a chance for students to pitch ideas to judges who are also entrepreneurs in front of an audience of those innovators and technology leaders.

FICTI Student Projects 2019

Title Description School Team Members
Ascend Knee Brace Over 100 million Americans suffer from chronic knee pain. Joint pain is expensive to treat and can often result in other health issues such as obesity and depression. An individual with knee pain caused by osteoarthritis can expect an average annual treatment cost of $4,400. The most common solution to alleviate stress on joints is through the use of a knee brace, but the most commonly used types of knee braces can severely limit mobility, and only treat the symptoms. The Ascend Brace superiority to other brands stems from the muscle augmentation and lateral support without the loss of mobility. Ascend uses a patent pending varying radius spring to provide assistance to the muscles. The springs in the Ascend are tailor-able for each level of preferred assistance, so every user has the right amount if support in throughout recovery. In addition, Ascend manufactured using advanced 3D printing methods allowing for near unlimited sizing, and fast turnaround times of less than one week. Unlike many other braces in the market, The Ascend is sleek and only weighing 1.2 pounds, making it one of the most lightweight functional braces. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Michael Geldart
Tyler Farneese
Capacitech Energy The problem is that systems such as IT backup power systems and solar power systems rely on batteries. They also have loads that fluctuate, which damage the battery to the point of replacement, inflating the system’s cost of ownership. Solar companies need aftermarket products to sell during slow quarters and ways to offset the raising upfront costs. Datacenters need ways to provide backup power to remote loads and to increase operating profit to compete with larger, overseas competitors. A thin, flexible, high-power density, long operating life, Cable-Based Capacitor (CBC). The CBC is designed to deliver a lot of power very quickly. The CBC also has a significantly longer operating life compared to batteries, approximately 7x-10x longer. Using the CBC in parallel to batteries to complement them improves their maximum capacity and operating life by 15% – 35%. Our plan is to embed the CBC in DC power cords connecting the power source, battery, and load together. 1. The first is that most energy storage companies compete in size, cost, and performance. This form factor offers a unique value proposition creating an entirely new segment within the market. 2. By focusing on the form factor, Capacitech can license the CBCs form factor or can adopt the greatest or most popular materials of the time and/or industry. This is important for sustainability. 3. Comparing the CBC form factor to other capacitors, the CBC requires less surface area on circuit boards than traditional capacitors do. Also – the form factor allows the CBC to be bent and wrapped around the circuit board allowing for additional miniaturization (may help fit circuits into low profile cases that would be other wise would be impossible). 4. The cable form factor helps distributors as well as the end users in the form or reduced lead times and reduced inventory costs. This is because a single 100ft spool of CBC cells can be customized to meet different performance specs in different industries! This motivates the distributors to push sales of the CBC over our competitors. 5. Some can argue we are competing against long lasting (high cycle) battery tech in the solar industry. The CBC paired with a traditional battery, even a lead acid battery, will provide a viable and effective option for residential solar power that performs nearly as well as a large >$10k battery for their system. 6. The form factor is our strength! The DC power cord embedded with CBC cells is a plug and play solution unlike other capacitors that would need a new circuit board or a battery that needs a large investment! The CBC can be added and customized to systems such as solar power by only replacing the DC power cords connecting systems together. University of Central Florida College of Engineering and Computer Science Joe Sleppy
Sabby Persad
Project SWEET Project SWEET addresses the transportation and sterilization of water in impoverished communities; the two fronts of the global water insecurity crisis described by top water authorities. The World Health Organization classified water-borne disease as the second leading cause of death in low-income
communities globally and the Joint Monitoring Programme has shown the devastating impact caused when women and children waste up to 6 hours a day collecting water rather than go to school or work. While most of the market is focused on infrastructural installations (which are ineffective in the long term), our few direct competitors like other rolling barrels, water treatment pumps or filters, and chemical treatments only address one of two issues: either transportation or sterilization of water. The real value proposition of our product is that we are leveraging our users behavior to improve both aspects of water security simultaneously; thus, with less effort, our user gets more water and cleaner water.		 Florida International University College of Engineering and Computing Andrew Bowyer
Maria Fiallo
Virtual Roll Call Roll call briefing is the first 15 minutes of a police officer’s shift spent at the station in a briefing room where the shift supervisor, commonly of sergeant rank, goes over a clipboard of information with the officers. Due to many factors, officers are not always present for roll call briefings, for example, they
may be in court, assigned to an overlapping shift, or may have to start their tour early due to call volume. Virtual Roll call allows for officers to be briefed on all the necessary information on demand and at all time; there is no such a solution available in the market today to our knowledge. Supervisory staff can input relevant information into the system as soon as they have it and officers are notified and informed of the latest information right away.		 Florida International University Juan Hernandez
Darilys Pereira Lopez
Eddie Caraballo
Samuel Ceballos
Masoud Sadjadi
NERD Autonomous robotic delivery service specializing in food delivery and solving the last-mile delivery problem on college campuses. NERD seeks to offer a service for dropping off mail bringing snacks on demand with autonomous delivery robots. Autonomous robotic delivery service specializing in food delivery and solving the last-mile delivery problem on college campuses to increase productivity
and provide food options for college students and staff. NERD seeks to offer a service for dropping off mail bringing snacks on demand with autonomous delivery robots. Our autonomous robots can make deliveries directly to students and staff on campuses throughout the day. We are providing a delivery service that allows for students and faculty to get food and goods delivered directly to them wherever they are on campus.		 Florida Atlantic University College of Engineering & Computer Science Alex Roscoe
Andrew Potenza
NetFly The NetFly startup is a unique community of drone users with blockchain safety protocol for interactive remote quadcopter flights. The NetFly web platform allows to experience online distant presence for every user. Selecting drones worldwide they are able to observe the most exciting places of interest, sport events, manage on-site operations, rehabilitate. The business is self-sustained, the economy is based on the Uber model. People with drones provide access to their equipment for clients through our secure service, while the company makes money taking a fraction of the cost of these operations. To make life easier the company provides specially designed drones with landing and solar charging pad included so that quadcopters can automatically return to base and recharge safely. Florida Atlantic University College of Engineering & Computer Science Val Spiridonov
Nixus After interviewing 12 physicians we identified outstanding clinical need to update the current pneumatic compression device which are unconformable, difficult apply, and requiring the patient immobile for the duration of the treatments rustling in low patient noncompliance of 40%. Our device is easily incorporated into the patients lifestyle by being light weight, slim fitting, and easy to apply. We completely reinvented the current compression devices by incorporating NiTi shape memory alloy actuators to create a durable pneumatic compression device that can apply treatments while walking and engaging in every day activities. Florida Institute of Technology Thomas Ward
Ariana Eichler
Samantha Schultz
Daniel Masteller
Guardian Wearable (Pressure Sensor for Contact Sports Athletes) As athletes get bigger, faster and stronger the impacts given and received in contact sports are becoming more severe than ever. Athletes are often too caught up in competition to register these significant impacts and register that they might need medical attention. This makes athletic trainers’ jobs harder since they cannot see every impact that occurs on the field. A device that athletes can wear that detects and measures impacts on the body, will help athletic trainers and medical staff catch. Right now, this type of technology just exists for helmets. We are expanding this technology to the body, allowing the couches and athletic trainers to monitor all the impacts that players get in the field through a simple app. Florida Institute of Technology Matthew Lanoue
Alexzandreia Van Hoekelen
Songda Lei
Keira McCarthy
Alexander Romero
Jenny Berg
Rebeca Quintero
Daniel Welch
Surgical Drainage Tube Clamp Keeping surgical drainage tubes secured requires sutures that restrict flow Outcome: The flow of the drainage tube will not be inhibited and sutures are not required. Our product is designed for all age groups and is easy to use. It costs little to make and a user can assemble it quickly University of Miami College of Engineering Jasia Dickerson
Perry Diaz
Nasir Mason
Laissez Feast The problem being solved is being too busy or unbothered to feed one’s pet/animal in a way that is healthy, timely, precise, and consistent. Improving the efficiency of the consumer and health of the animals that use the product is achieved by providing convenience and alleviating time, money, and error associated with feeding the animal, while also providing the animal a healthy, safe, and regulated feeding system. Owners of this product can eliminate time and energy by using it to streamline pet feeding and allow a pet more freedom of feeding with less effort and responsibility on the part of the consumer. It is fully programmable, fully automated, fully refrigerated, and extremely easy to use, whereas current products on the market only offer a fraction of the features and abilities of Laissez Feast. University of Miami College of Engineering Aaren Sirak
Christian Marquina
Jonathan Bown
Peter Stansky
Sourse Energy With a push towards sustainability, the primary residential renewable energy solution remains to be solar panels, which are expensive investments, averaging $12,500, that many U.S. residents don’t adopt. Factors that further limit the adoption of solar panels is short operation time and panel inefficiencies which result in an annual saving of only $730 and a long return on investment (ROI) period of nearly 17 years. Sourse™ is an alternative to solar panels that converts the suns energy to electricity by using solar collectors to heat water and run a heat engine. Due to the high efficiency of the patented solar collectors and novel engine design, Sourse™ operates 10 hours a day, costs $7,250, and saves the homeowner ~$860 a year, resulting in an ROI of 8.5 years. Unversity of Florida Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Domenic Aluise
Elezar Tonev
Jacob Barrineau