(Image: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Building a better fit for prosthetic limbs - and making it affordable for all - was the idea that carried the evening at the MIT 100k entrepreneurship competition in Cambridge, Massachusetts last night. The Benevolent Technologies for Health project has designed a silicone socket for prosthetic limbs which lets the wearer readjust it themselves without the expense or bother that comes with traditional limb sockets. Sockets usually need to be carefully crafted in a workshop, but the BETH project's silicone socket is shaped over the limb using a vacuum pump, a process which can easily be redone if the wearer's limb changes.
BETH aims to bring more comfortable prosthetic limbs to all the millions of people who need one, with a particular focus on the developing world, where the "prosthetic care industry struggles to meet the needs of low income patients", the team says on its website.
As winner of the MIT 100k Accelerate contest, BETH received $10,000 in funding to help commercialise the idea, as well as a spot in the grand finale contest, where the winner will receive $100,000.
Two runners up also took home $2000 each - Bit Harmonics, which touts a software system that lets homeowners, business or whole communities monitor their energy use remotely. Existing electricity meters provide a bulk reading of your usage, but Bit Harmonics technology uses machine learning to figure out which appliances are using what energy, monitoring energy use profiles to figure out what turns on when. And the audience choice award went to GlutenTech, a startup that has built a portable sensor that people can use to test food they are about to eat for gluten content on the spot.
ray lewis alicia keys randy moss randy moss superbowl commercials OJ Brigance What Time Does The Superbowl Start 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.