Semi-Finalist & Winner Profiles
2008 SEMI-FINALIST TEAMS
2008 GRAND CHAMPION: iShoe
Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University
Team Members: Erez Lieberman and Theresa Tribble
Business Venture Description: iShoe has a patent pending insole that rehabilitates the wearer’s ability to balance, reduces falls, and automatically notifies caregivers and loved ones if a fall occurs.
Geohopr
Institutions: Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University
Team Members: Faisal Karmali and Timothy Chan
Business Venture Description: Using a marketing-focused strategy, Geohopr aims to be the first mobile, geographically-enabled, social networking platform to achieve critical market penetration. By collecting users' satellite-derived positional data, Geohopr's data mining technology will deliver innovative functions for its users, and will generate consumer behavioral information for retailers that is unprecedented in its accuracy and granularity.
IntAct labs LLC
Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and University of Guelph
Team Members: Matthew Silver, Justin Buck), Noah Taylor, Ted Fjallman and Paul Grana
Business Venture Description: IntAct Labs LLC is developing revolutionary biomass-to-electricity technology based on Microbial Fuel Cell processes. Developed under funding from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, our technology has application in advanced life-support systems for human space exploration, industrial and municipal waste-to-energy markets, and as power for distributed sensor networks.
Lunar Innovations Technology Development (LITD)
Institution: Utah State University
Team Members: Jeffrey C Boulware, Franklin B. Angomas Mora, Shane Boone,
Cade Charlton and Chaoqun Shiela Lai
Business Venture Description: Lunar Innovations Technology Development (LITD) seeks and exploits innovative concepts to support space exploration with the immediate goal of exploring the economic and technical feasibility of lunar concrete. Future concepts of LITD's highly talented management team relate to lunar mining operations, ISRU materials processing, and in situ power distribution and their terrestrial counterparts
Orbit Frontiers LLC
Institution: Purdue University
Team Members: Joseph Gangestad, Jeffrey Onken, Mary Cafasso and Pablo Mayrgundter
Business Venture Description: Orbit Frontiers is streamlining the path of information from space to consumer with its extensive database of satellite data and telemetry. Populated with data from several worldwide partners, our Orbit Library is a complete research tool, providing a primary source for gauging the behavior of past, present, and future satellites in the real space environment.
Pyramid Sciences
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Team Members: Gregor Hanuschak, Stephen Gildea and Alexander Bruccoleri
Business Venture Description: Pyramid Sciences will sell innovative, cost effective space propulsion systems and seeks to apply these technologies in the semiconductor industry and other terrestrial industries. The company seeks to address orbital decay of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, the most significant factor for long lifetime LEO missions. Terrestrially the company plans to use the jet from Electrospray thrusters as a focused ion beam to create a new type of scanning microscope, and can also be used for ion lithography and deep ion etching.
2007 SEMI-FINALIST TEAMS
2007 GRAND CHAMPION: Omega Sensors, Inc. (OSI)
Institution: San Diego State University
Team Members: Brian Bjorndal, Brad Chisu, Joe Dennison, Tom Jone, Nick Rhea and Richard Waters
Business Venture Description: OSI offers an improved sensor technology that will increase the ability to locate oil, fewer dry wells, and increase in oil well output through strategic drilling, with additional applications in structural and equipment monitoring, navigation systems and robotics. Inertial navigation systems can be used to navigate satellites, rockets, the space shuttle, and nearly every other space based vehicle.
Artemis Sensor Networks (ASN)
Institution: University of Colorado and Colorado School of Mines
Team Members: Doug Bean, Arta Doci, and Brian Erickson
Business Venture Description: ASN provides embedded software that improves scalability, optimizes power expenditure and increases performance for wireless sensor networks. These networks have particular applicability in locations where human intervention is difficult such as on the moon, in polluted areas, and in severe weather conditions.
Automated Integrated Mission Systems (AIMSense)
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Team Members: Matthew Abrahamson, David Butts, Christophe Mandy, Robert Panish and Reggie Smith
Business Venture Description: AIMSense's innovative guidance system improves the aerial refueling process by making tanker-to-aircraft docking quicker and more operator-friendly. In space applications include realizing autonomous spacecraft rendezvous and docking for on-orbit servicing.
Filament Technologies
Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Team Members: Jason Cormey, Jim DiOttavio, Manassa Kona and Thilini Rangedera
Business Venture Description: Filament Technologies will develop and market integrated "micro-renewable" power generation and distribution solutions for small off-grid communities and households. Small-scale power management and storage system components, derived from space technology, will adapted, demonstrated and deployed in these underserved markets, leading to further development of technologies suitable for both terrestrial and space power systems.
Genesis Contrivance
Institution: Colorado School of Mines
Team Members: Dave Brokering, Danny Chong, Ryan Dubisher, Mark Gefreh, Travis Leach, Daniel Miller, Jeff Parham and Stephanie Quintana
Business Venture Description: Genesis Contrivance offers two products to industries operating without human presence in hazardous and/or remote locations - a multipurpose utility rover and a specialized repair bay for assisting, maintaining and repairing the rover.
Kronos
Institution: Colorado School of Mines
Team Members: Darick Baker, Luke Erikson, William Rance and Erik Sphar
Business Venture Description: Kronos will develop technology and techniques to provide solutions for collecting meteorites on the Earth and later on the moon.
Space Tethers
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Team Members: Gregor Z. Hanuschak, Lydur T. Thorgeirsson, Toby Schachman and Bruce Mackenzie
Business Venture Description: Space Tethers will use rotating tethers to catch and throw space payloads.
Space Navigation and Communications Corporation (SNACC)
Institution: University of Colorado
Team Members: Keric Hill, Amanda Heaton, Torsten Zorn, Jennifer Gertz, Keith Davis, Jeffrey Parker, Sean O'Dell and Kathryn Hamera
Business Venture Description: Space Navigation and Communications Corporation will provide navigation and communication services to satellites in the lunar environment, providing highly accurate solutions for lunar satellites, landers, and rovers. The constellation will also have the unique capability of providing the Earth with navigation and communication coverage of the far side of the moon.
Teachable Automation Inc.
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Team Members: Bryan Gardner and Swati Mohan
Business Venture Description: Teachable Automation Inc. offers the Jerry Arm - a motion teachable manufacturing arm that can be "taught" (not programmed) to perform various repeated motion operations both on Earth and in space.
ViraTag LLC
Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Team Members: Dev Ghose, Nimisha Gupta and James McDonough
Business Venture Description: ViraTag LLC will commercialize in-vitro diagnostic virus detection kits for quick, efficient, cost-effective, and extremely accurate identification of viruses using easily portable equipment and with minimally trained personnel. Applications include monitoring the health of astronauts in space.