Finalists Selected for 2018 InVenture Prize

Six teams of students will compete to win cash prizes and free patents through the InVenture Prize, Georgia Tech’s annual innovation contest.

This year marks the 10th competition for the prize, which recognizes student inventors for their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.

More than 40 teams registered for this year’s contest. Winners will be selected March 14.

Here are the finalists:

Memeois. This team designed an all-meme platform. It crawls the internet for memes and uses machine learning to curate a personalized feed of memes.

Inventors: Two computer science majors: Anushk Mittal and Joshua Wang

PedalCreator. Their device, Disruption, is an affordable guitar effects pedal that gives musicians the freedom to create distortion sounds. It is fully analog and customizable. 

Inventors: Dallas Condra, mechanical engineering major; Jeremy Leff, mechanical engineering major; and Vanya Padmanabhan, industrial design major.

pHAM. These students designed a filter to reduce coffee’s acidity. They incorporated a mineral blend into the structure of the filter paper, which reduces the acidity of the brewed coffee without negatively affecting the taste. 

Inventors: Four materials science and engineering majors: Michele Lauto, Tyler Quill, Aaron Stansell and Lucas Votaw.

Scal-Pal. The team redesigned current blade packaging to make scalpel assembly safer and more efficient. Inventors said this design eliminates the threats posed by exposed blades, which can put health care workers at risk for blood-borne diseases and connective tissue damage.

Inventors: Four biomedical engineering majors: Bailey Klee, Rachel Mann, Nicholas Quan and Sydney Platt. 

Tensionr. These students created an easy, safe and effective strap tensioning tool for any shaped load. It allows for the elimination of razor-sharp steel bands, which frequently cut workers on the hands, arms and face.

Inventors: Five mechanical engineering majors: Michael Bailey, Austin Forgey, Hannah Larson, Lauren Perrine and Brandon Will.

UltraView. This student invented StarLight, an aiming device for competitive archery. Unlike current scopes and light kits on the market, he said this one is easier to set up and use.

Inventor: Kolby Hanley, materials science engineering major.

The winning team will take home $20,000 and will represent Georgia Tech in the annual ACC InVenture Prize, taking place on campus April 6.

The second-place team earns $10,000.

Both first- and second-place finishers will receive free U.S. patent filings by Georgia Tech’s Office of Technology Licensing and a spot in Georgia Tech’s startup accelerator program, Flashpoint.

A $5,000 People’s Choice Award will go to the fans’ favorite invention. Voting will be held online and by text messaging during the finale.

The finale will take place March 14 at the Ferst Center for the Arts. Tickets are free and can be requested here.