5-25-05
The Rouse Excels at RIT Design Contest
|
|
The Penn State Behrend student design team of Seth Martin, Andy Wood, and Todd Yarrington earned the second place prize of $3,000 at the Rochester Institute of Technology's Fifth Annual Student Design Contest on May 7. They were accompanied to the competition by electrical, computer, and software engineering faculty members YoungJoon Byun and Chris Coulston. |
The event was an all day "science fair" convention. Design teams gave a brief multi-media presentation of their design project and set up a science fair booth to promote their projects.
The team's project was a wireless mouse-glove called the "Rouse." The Rouse is a wearable glove that senses finger motion of the user and interprets that to control a mouse pointer on the computer. Dr. Coulston witnessed the success of the team's ingenuity. "Our design team had the Rouse controlling a video game. By moving their hand, the user controlled the movements of a character in an adventure game," said Coulston.
"This turned out to be a popular attraction at the design contest. The reliability and usability of the Rouse was impressive. Many students tried and successfully used it."
|
Teams were evaluated based on a formal technical presentation to an audience, a project demonstration at their table, teamwork, quality of technical content, and creativity. Coulston called the team's technical presentation "tight and snappy." First place in the contest went to Boston University and third place to Penn State Harrisburg. Most Marketable Award went to Carnegie Mellon, and Best Presentation Award to the Royal Military College of Canada. |
|
Other competing teams came from Bucknell, Drexel, University of New Hampshire, The Cooper Union, and the U.S. Military Academy.
In the distinctive electrical, computer, and software engineering program, students have ample opportunity for research, co-ops, and internships. They complete a two-semester senior design project and work with dedicated and accomplished faculty. More than ninety-five percent of graduates are employed in their field or pursuing graduate studies within one year of graduation.