Over Stride Monitor for Sprinters

Sprinters tend to over stride when they run. Over striding slows the runner because when the leading foot contacts the ground it is forward of the body and the force it initially applies to the runner is opposite of the direction of travel. A runner should stride just enough to plant the leg when it directly under their body. A device that both monitors over stride and paces a sprinter could be a useful training device.

Difficulty: Medium Hard
Commercial Potential: Low (there is just not a lot of money in sprinting)

Wireless Elevator Control Interface for the Wheel Chair Bound

A short range wireless elevator control interface would benefit the wheelchair bound in that they would not have to manipulate their chairs to the control panels to choose a floor and then have to hurry to get out of the elevator before the doors close. With the wireless controller they could select floors and hold the door open. Security is an issue. You wouldn't want someone commandeering the elevator from a distance.

Difficulty: Medium High
Commercial Potential: Medium

More Effective Smoke and CO Detectors

Smoke alarms and CO detectors generally do not wake sleeping children according to a news article that I read. As a case in point, my son (5yrs old) set a loud kitchen timer next to his bed the other night and, true to what he had set it for, it went off an hour and twenty minutes later. When I shut it off he hadn't moved an inch. There must be a better way to wake children: a recorded familiar voice, shaking the bed, lights in the room, etc. Also, having the alarm identify itself verbally would make it less disorienting in the middle of the night.


Difficulty: Medium (High if it involves any human experimentation)
Commercial Potential: High

Electronic Sun Compass

Sun compasses are sun dial like devices that can be used with time to determine direction from the sun. The British used them in Northern Africa during World War Two. Commercial mechanical sun compasses are available and used in yachting as a backup if other systems fail.

I think it would be interesting to design an electronic version of the sun compass. Also, it would be interesting to know if you could get it to work through cloud cover by looking for some radiation that isn't effectively blocked or dispersed by the clouds.

Difficulty: Medium (without the cloud part) High (with the cloud part)
Commercial Potential: ??

Wireless, Real Time, Self-Powered Sensors

A project that I worked on required that we instrument a large robotic arm (a backhoe). The sensors required wiring that ran the length of the arm. The wiring required protection due to harsh environments where backhoes work.

I think that a wireless sensor that could provide real time measurements for the arm controller would be and excellent project. I added the real time requirement because I am a control systems engineer and don't like old data. Adding a self-powering feature would steal some of the power required to move the arm to keep the sensors working.

Difficulty: High (for the whole project, it could possibly be divided)
Commercial Potential: High

An Ablative Gap Sensor (or an Even Better Idea!)

Our company was once faced with the problem of measuring and adjusting the gap between the reel and bedknife of a golf course mower. Both parts wear due to contact with the grass that is clipped off between them and no absolute gap measurement is possible. We solved the problem in a less than ideal way by briefly contacting the reel and bedknife, but an absolute non-contact measurement would be better. One possibility would be to design a sensor that is implanted into the surface and wears (or ablates) with that surface. Other things that were discussed included electrical arcing, pressure variations when the bedknife moves relative to the reel, and acoustic resonance methods.

A reliable solution to this problem would have immediate commercial application and is likely patentable. Our less than ideal solution was patented and is in commercial development.

Difficultly: Medium High
Commercial Potential: High