An interesting presentation given by our Makeathon kickoff speaker: Dr. Nancy Allbritton
This was the first year I helped run the Makeathon instead of participating in it, so I had the cool opportunity to watch the design process for a bunch of different teams and see all of their amazing ideas! This year’s challenge was to develop a static positioning device to aid in positioning and facilitate physical development of pediatric cerebral palsy patients. The challenge was announced Friday night and teams were given until Sunday at 2 PM to work on their ideas and presentations.
Luckily, teams had the chance to consult with mentors and get their feedback on their design ideas and slide deck. It was so nice to see so many alumni, as well as current graduate students, volunteer their time to help our teams. Their feedback, spanning everything from CAD to entrepreneurship and presentation skills, was invaluable in helping teams shape their projects.
Some super cool mentors who joined to help teams with their projects!
Arguably the coolest part of the Makeathon this year was the opportunity for teams to do in-person fabrication, something that none of us were able to do last year due to the pandemic. It was so cool to see teams 3-D printing their designs, building circuits using the Arduino kits we provided, and wielding tools in the Innovation Space to aid in prototyping!
All of the projects resulting from this challenge were such amazing ideas and it was so fun to watch them go from initial idea to a developed design or physical prototype. Although Makeathon weekend was a crazy, sleepless weekend for all those who were involved, it was also super fun to be a part of! Congratulations to BME Creatine, the Dubineers, the Best Team, and SC Innovations for winning prizes, and all of the teams who participated for doing an overall amazing job in the competition!
Congrats to the Dubineers, who won second place in the Makeathon (ft. their awesome prototype)!
