CAGI Innovation Award Contest Winners Named

Virginia Tech takes top prize in compressed air competition

A team of engineering students from Virginia Tech has won first place in the 2007-2008 National Innovation Awards conducted by the Compressed Air & Gas Institute (CAGI).

Team CIRCA (Climbing Inspection Robot with Compressed Air), including students, David McDowell, Cory Kaser, Nicholas Thayer, Florian Böss, and advisors, Dennis Hong and Gabriel Goldman, captured the judges attention and took top honors with their project that used compressed air to power a serpentine robot designed for inspecting unsafe or hard to reach areas such as bridge structures, tall utility poles, or even scaffolding or girders in construction sites.

For their innovative design, Team CIRCA will divide $2500 in prize money, and their effort also earned $8000 for their school’s participating department.

The judges were impressed with each of the projects that were submitted, but Team CIRCA’s serpentine robot not only met the contest requirements, “it is an excellent application of compressed air with high potential for safer applications particularly in hazardous locations,” said Harish Shah, a contest judge.

Second place was awarded to Team Turbocharger of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Their Turbocharger Test Stand is intended to be used for bearing testing and turbocharger shaft vibration measurement. Team members, including Charles Clarke, Jason Ruhe, Abhishek Chowdhary, Andrew Newman, James East, William Papke, Francis Jablonski, Angela Overstreet, Thomas Goodrich, Carter McGowan, Tobias Mueller and faculty advisor, Dr. R. G. Kirk, will share $1500 in prize money. $4000 will be awarded to their school’s participating department.

Honorable mention was given to Team Stressed and Compressed of Milwaukee School of Engineering, including Steve Kenney, Eric Scatton, Griffin Pesch, and Dave Orlowski. Their entry, the Saucer Tosser, is a mechanism that accelerates a clay disc through the air with the use of a compressed piston. The Saucer Tosser would be used in clay pigeon shooting.

The Innovation Awards are an invitation-only awards program designed to honor undergraduates for innovative use of compressed air. Students from Virginia Tech, Purdue University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and the University of Minnesota submitted their air-powered designs for judging by the members of CAGI, the association of manufacturers of compressed air systems and equipment. The contest challenged students to create innovative designs, using compressed air as the power source for machine tool applications, motion control devices, consumer products, or other unique applications. The projects were judged in three areas, including innovation, marketability, and presentation.

CAGI is proud of all of the students and their mentors who participated in the 2007-2008 Innovation Awards Contest, and plans are underway to expand the 2008-2009 contest to include additional schools.