Ellie Evans – A student intern during the Summer of 2015 printed and assembled a Prosthetic Hand, using the Innovation Lab’s 3D printers.  Ellie had the idea from e-Nable project. E-Nable project is a global network of volunteers using 3D printing to give helping hands to kids that don’t have one.   Ellie is a Political Science major at the University of Rhode Island. However, she became an intern at the SBU Innovation Lab after hearing about the various technologies in the facility that student’s have free access to.

 

Ellie said that she learned everything from basics of how to use a 3D printer and filament, to the different printers it takes to print finer/bigger objects.  While assembling the pieces she had to figure out how tension worked in a hand, as well as how the pieces fit together.   Ellie adapted the concept of “Tunnel Vision”, when working on long term projects that use 3D printers. Ellie describes “Tunnel Vision” as, when you know a piece is supposed to go together a certain way, but just don’t see why it isn’t work. The project was difficult, but Ellie said that if it wasn’t for her great colleagues in the lab who were always available to lend a hand or to look at the project from a different perspective; this made her job a little easier.

As this being the first prototype of this kind to being developed in the lab the team was excited to see the final project.

 

This is one of the many projects that are challenging students and staff alike at the SBU Innovation Lab.

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Alysha Bullock.

 

 

This past summer two high school researchers, Drew Kaplan and Shakeel Faizy, began to design a bathroom system for individuals with extreme disabilities such as cerebral palsy. This bathroom design Drew and Shakeel have created will allow individuals who cannot move on their own, and lack motor skills, to use the bathroom without the aid of others.

The inspiration for this project came from Shakeel, whose brother suffers from cerebral palsy. Shakeel’s brother’s condition requires constant aid and assistance from his family, with the creation of a bathroom like the prototype Drew and Shakeel are working on, his brother would be able to use the bathroom on his own.

When creating their design, Drew and Shakeel analyzed the aspects of bathroom usage that they found most important. The next step was redesigning a normal bathroom for more accessible use.

Here is an image of the bathroom system:

The bathroom consists of five main parts: it includes a rotating platform, a low to the ground shelf, for easy access,
a sink, a toilet, and a bath/dryer unit. Each station is engineered with automatic technology to improve and simplify hygiene.

In the Innovation Lab, Drew and Shakeel 3D printed the platform, chair, and tub/shower unit of our design. They used TinkerCAD to design the prototype for 3D printing. As of now, the duo is still working on the sink, toilet, and shelf designs.

Their next step is to program the chair to move into and out of the tub on a small embedded motor.

We look forward to what is to come from these two bright gentlemen!

Below is an image of both Drew (right) and Shakeel (left) holding the 3D printed prototypes they created in the lab.

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Christopher Tasso.

Jorge Soto, a cancer technologist, tells the story of his own family struggles with cancer. He is developing a simple, noninvasive and  open-source test that looks for early signs of cancer. Soto explains that often the determination between life and death with cancer is ‘how early it is caught?’ The test is available on a mobile platform making it not only innovative but,  accessible. At the end of the TED Talk, Soto debuts his working prototype for the first time.

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Alysha Bullock.

Dale Grover of Maker Works in Ann Arbor says that a makerspace is

 “TOOLS + SUPPORT + COMMUNITY”.We would like to thank MakerBridge for including us in their community by listing the Innovation Lab on their website. We are the only institution in Long Island to be featured! Founded by Sharona Ginsberg, an alumna of University of Michigan School of Information; MakerBridge is a community that welcomes all markers. However, it focuses on showcasing and helping librarians, teachers and other educators.

Check out MakerBridge for information on additional makerspaces, upcoming maker fairs and more.  

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Alysha Bullock.

Come September 2nd, between the 1-2:20 pm in Harriman 210 (The Innovation Lab), to the Innovation Lab’s first workshop of the Fall 2015 semester!

This is the Maker Mentality workshop, and it will inform all attendants on what exactly it means to be a maker, the tools and resources needed to get started, the various ways in which the Maker Movement is impacting the modern world, and the cool, interesting ways in which you can get started here at the lab!

The Maker Movement is a movement that combines entrepreneurial spirit with modern technology. This movement accounts for approximately 28 million small businesses and the creation of 8 million new jobs in the U.S.

Maker’s use technology to help make everyday living simpler and more efficient, create new boundaries for the uses of modern technology, start up new businesses, and most importantly, use their imagination as fuel for innovation.

Here is a nice graphic with some information about the Maker Movement:

During the workshop we will provide information on the resources we and others can offer to get started in the maker community, such as: Maker festivals, events, meetups, etc.

The Innovation Lab from its opening has put much effort into networking in the local maker community, and will help you get your foot in the door.

Make sure to come September 2nd!

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Christopher Tasso.

In Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, a Red-Footed Tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaris) named Fred, received a 3D printed replacement shell, in order to replace the shell he lost during a recent forest fire.

To fix this issue, the good-natured and tech savvy veterinarians of Santos decided that they would use 3D printing technology to create a new shell for Fred!

The veterinarians in Santos teamed up with a dentist and a graphical designer and worked for three months to come up with a shell that would protect and cover Fred, as good as his original shell.

The shell was printed with the same PLA material found on most 3D desktop printers and was surgically attached to Fred. So far it has been holding up well, but researchers are still uncertain how long it will hold up in the wild.

For now the shell has been left its original white color, but Brazilian artists have been contacting Fred’s veterinarians in order to see if they can paint it the same colors of his original shell. At this time the veterinarians are still trying to figure out if the paint would be harmful or not.

Hopefully all works out for Fred! This story is an excellent example of just how versatile and helpful 3D printing technology can be.

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Christopher Tasso.

Last Friday, July 31st, 2015, Stony Brook Happenings, an online newsletter covering events, updates, and various information concerning Stony Brook University, wrote an article on our being featured in InnovateLi!

The article on Stony Brook Happenings can be found here.

The article covers what we are doing in the lab, have done, and will be doing here in the near future. Be sure to give it a gander!

We hope to be featured somewhere new soon!

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Christopher Tasso.

InnovateLI, an online news site covering startups, biotech, IT, and clean energy on Long Island, recently wrote an article on the Innovation lab!

The Lab’s Director, David Ecker, and team member Samiha Shakil, were interviewed on what we do, have done, and are planning to do at the Innovation lab.

The article sheds light on how Stony Brook University’s Innovation Lab is a unique space on campus where students from all backgrounds can get together to design and build new products. It also focused in on the workshops and competitions that we offer and will be offering, such as the soldering workshop and our first pitch night!

InnovateLI seemed extremely impressed with all of our outreach efforts, such as our WISE workshops and our participation in the LI MakerFest.

Having this article done on the lab is very reassuring and motivating as we move forward!

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Christopher Tasso.

Ever wonder what it would be like to see music?

Recently, Allison Wood and Kei Gowda began a startup called Reify which focuses around not only hearing music, but seeing it.

Reify turns sound waves into 3-D printed sculptures that play the sound back with an augmented reality app. Wood models her startup on the neurological phenomenon Synesthesia.

Synesthesia occurs when the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway produces automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. In the case of music, synesthetes generally tend to see colors and form. Many famous musicians have been said to have Synesthesia; most recently, it’s been Kanye West…

With Reify, Wood and Gowda aim to allow non-synesthetes the ability to experience music visually—digital synesthesia.

Reify designs a totem—a 3D printed object that represents the song—using Echo Nest API to analyze its rhythm, structure, amplification, harmony, etc. All of this data correlates to physical attributes such as weight, height, and mass. The form of the totem is finalized once the artist evaluates it, and decides whether it is a worthy representation of their work.

To hear the 3D printed musical sculpture, one must use the Reify augmented reality app. When the totem is in front of the camera, the app reads its form and will play the song to you on your phone, and begins to animate your screen—replicating the actual experience of Synesthesia.

As of now, Reify is still in its early stages as a startup, but hopefully we will see more of them in the near future!

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Christopher Tasso.

The Innovation Lab team just recently designed and made their own t-shirts!

The t-shirts include the Innovation Lab’s logo, motto, #SBUcreate, and the lab’s associations (College of Business and Research Technologies). See images below for a peek at the shirt.

The creation of the Innovation Lab’s t-shirts not only mark another step in the lab’s progress of displaying their identity and values, but also serve as a landmark in the development of the I-lab team!

This summer the Innovation Lab hired many new employees from all disciplines, ranging from Chemical Engineering to English. Being a cross-disciplinary lab, having staff from a variety of majors has helped in developing and making the lab a place for all students, no matter what they study.

Be prepared to see the I-Lab shirts this summer and the upcoming semester, as the iLab team will continue to expand and make its presence known on campus!

 

Originally posted on SBU Innovation Lab Blog by Christopher Tasso.