Newswise — ITHACA, N.Y. – This spring, the best and the brightest among U.S. college engineering students will return to Walt Disney World to show off their creations at the second annual Cornell Cup USA presented by Intel.

This year’s competition will feature 30 teams from 18 institutions throughout the country demonstrating their creations: from leaf-raking robots and water purification systems to brain-controlled health care devices. The goal of the Cornell Cup is to challenge student design teams to use the latest Intel Atom board to create embedded technology devices that address real-world needs and offer real-world ready solutions worthy of a tech investor’s eye.

After months of work — moving from concept through design to construction — the teams will travel to Walt Disney World for a two-day, expo-style event May 3-4 to show off their creations and be measured by a panel of judges for a $10,000 grand prize. Second-place ($5,000) and third-place ($2,500) prizes will also be awarded. New this year, student design teams are being challenged to make their embedded design journey available to the media, with teams maintaining a “multimedia online chronicle” of their efforts from selection as a finalist through the eve of event itself.

(Brief descriptions of the teams and URLs for online chronicles are included below).

Based upon the highly successful Intel Cup China that attracts more than 26,000 students, the Cornell Cup USA presented by Intel was designed to be an enhanced version that empowers students to learn and apply professional design skills to create any design to showcase the next great embedded-technology invention. The competition is organized by faculty member David Schneider of Cornell’s Systems Engineering Program; and Byron Gillespie, Gabriela Gonzalez and Marc Pepin of Intel Corp.

Additional information and media resources on the Cornell Cup:

• Student team representatives are available for media interviews. For more information, contact John Carberry at [email protected].• Video of competition coordinator David Schneider talking about the goals of the competition: www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=2021. (high-res video in broadcast-quality designed to be used whole or in 15-20 second segments is available from Cornell University)• High-res video of event background and 2012 event b-roll, and select photos: https://cornell.box.com/CornellCup.• Cornell Cup homepage: www.systemseng.cornell.edu/intel.• Complete Cornell Cup 2013 finalist team summaries: www.systemseng.cornell.edu/intel/competition/summaries.cfm.• Additional multimedia resources, including video highlights from the Cornell Cup 2012 competition: www.systemseng.cornell.edu/engineering2/se/intel/gallery.

Brief finalist team summaries and multimedia online chronicle URLs:

Arizona State University: The project will combine advanced speech recognition algorithms, human-like simulated conversation techniques, and the latest 3D graphics to create an intelligent entity that is affordable, allows a speech interface and is prompt yet accurate. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013humancomputer

Arizona State University – Techpriests: This team proposes an advanced robot whose functionality can be broken down into simple services and manipulated by an understandable user interface. This will allow high-school students to bring creativity to bear and inspire them to pursue STEM fields. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013asutechpriests

Columbia University – Assistive Robotic Manipulator (ARM): This team’s goal is to design a relatively inexpensive, human-friendly wheelchair mounted robotic arm. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013columbiaarm

Columbia University – Team Lions: This project aims to solve the dilemma of dropped objects by the elderly and disabled by having a semi-autonomous robot, Boost. A video camera will display objects to the user and, after the user selects the object, the robot will automatically retrieve it. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013columbialions

Columbia University – Ouroboros: This team proposes “Alfred,” an intuitively controlled, mobile, self-balancing elderly-assisting robot. Alfred provides lifting capability for up to 50 pounds and an auto-stabilizing tray for items requiring more finesse during transportation. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013columbiaouroboros

Florida Institute of Technology – Panther 1: This project will create an autonomous vehicle that will be taken to the last known location of a missing ship. Once on site, a group of four small autonomous crafts will search while sending GPS data to a base ship for a more direct rescue. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013panther1

Howard University – Bison Technology: This team will design a prototype for an easy-to-use, sustainable automated device that can produce clean drinking water in developing countries and remote locations throughout the world. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013bisontechnology

Howard University – Team Sigma: To avoid the frustration of losing or forgetting important items, this project aims to create a smart backpack that accesses a user’s daily schedule, deduces the items required, and notifies the user when these items are outside a certain range of the backpack. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013teamsigma

Oregon State University – MetroSwift: This team will create a unified interface which controls all major sub-systems of a car and reports back the state of critical systems – all through a simple interface is concentrated on the dashboard and steering wheel. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013metroswift

Oregon State University – MoJo2: The objective is to provide a complete, affordable home automation solution to transform a house into a “smart home.” The system will allow users to manage the devices, outlets and power consumption throughout the home from a user-friendly interface. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013mojo2

Purdue University - Table-It: Table-It’s central purpose is to create a portable conference workstation and collaboration hub. In addition to basic desktop sharing and projection capabilities, it will also offer teams shared file storage and version control of created files based around a simple gesture interface. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013purduecc

Seattle Pacific University – NIA Wheel: The Neural Impulse Actuator Wheel is a less intrusive, more capable wheelchair system driven by brain signals. With the NIA Wheel and a little bit of training, users with severe mobility impairment will experience an easier, more comfortable wheelchair system. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013teamniawheel

Southern Illinois University – Salty Dawgs: The proposal here is the development of a self-sustaining autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) capable of collecting large amounts of research data at a reduced cost by removing human interaction. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013thesaltydawgs

University of California, Berkeley – Mengbaolity: This team will invent a new “Intelligent Cart” that uses computer vision, wireless networking and automation control to follow its handler inside a supermarket, return to the collecting and, using a smartphone app, get items and return to the customer.

University of California, San Diego – UAV Tracker: The UAV Tracker will be a multi-modal automatic tracking system designed to intelligently track a moving target, in this case an autonomous aerial system. It also could be used on any aircraft, in ornithology, or be extended to cinematography. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013uavtrackerteam

University of Colorado, Denver – Intracell: This project will develop inexpensive, networked cell phone transceiver nodes that function as a local extension to the global cellular network. The goal is to provide service coverage under various geographical and architectural constraints. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013ucdenver

University of Houston – Team Ignitus: This team will create a robotic device that can help with the preservation of life in firefighting situations by collecting and transmitting site data to a firefighter via on-site remote control. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013teamignitus

University of Massachusetts, Amherst – Personal Black Box: This team will develop the “Personal Black Box,” a portable, personal security device that will continuously record audio and video streams of the surrounding environment, secure enough to be used as evidence in a court of law. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013personalblackbox

University of Massachusetts, Lowell – Autonomous Robotic Mechanism (ARM): To provide independence to people who cannot feed themselves, the team will design of a robotic feeding arm that can be manipulated through various user interfaces. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013ulmarm

University of Massachusetts, Lowell – Team BioBot: This team’s goal is to design an automated device capable of quantizing the infectious agents in areas where people are more susceptible to infection, such as a hospital, and provide much-needed information to the proper personnel. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013biobot

University of Massachusetts, Lowell – LEAF: The team proposes to design and modify a robot to aid those suffering from lower back pain. The “Leaf Bot” will use leaf-recognition technology to eliminate the need for manual leaf removal services. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013umassteamleaf

University of Pennsylvania – Autonomous Airborne Vehicle (AAV): The team will develop a robust autopilot system for an AAV that is modular, reliable, and usable in a broad range of applications. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013upenn

University of Pennsylvania – ProtoDrive: The goal is to develop a test-bed for electric vehicle drive-cycle simulation and optimization of on-board energy management. This will eventually lead to Google Maps EV edition (with kilowatt-hour estimates and routes passing battery stations).

University of Pennsylvania – Titan: This team is designing an untethered, powered, upper-body exoskeleton for use in rehabilitation and therapeutic applications, as well as occupations requiring augmented strength. The exoskeletal system will be inexpensive, streamlined and wireless. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013titans

University of Pennsylvania – VIOS: The goal of the Vision Interactive Operating System is to change the television viewing experience into an immersive and interactive activity that is tailored to the viewer’s interest in the least invasive manner.

University of Pittsburgh – PandaCare: This team proposes a wearable electronic unit and associated software platform for dementia care. The system is called PandaCare, which consists of an electronic sensors button and wristband monitor. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013pandacare

University of Rochester – Swarm UV: The Swarm UV bots will work together to sanitize large surfaces in medical facilities in a more rapid time frame than other methods, using ultraviolet light and small autonomous robots in a swarm system in which each of the smaller robots is connected to a larger Central Hub base station. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013uvbots

University of Rochester – URead Braille: The project aims to create a refreshable braille display that acts as a computer screen for the blind. The braille display will be able to read in text and pdf files and output the result on the screen through a tactile display.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Cyber Physical Systems: The goal for this team is to develop a semi-autonomous wheelchair and body-brain computer interface using cost-effective, modular sensor packages that can be easily mounted to a wide variety of commercially available powered wheelchairs. Multimedia online chronicle at http://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcup2013wpicyberphysicalsystems

Worcester Polytechnic Institute – FIVOLTS: As one of the finalists entered last year, Fivolts team designed and realized the “Drowsiness Control System.” This year, they will take it further and design a multi-sensor, personal wireless biosignal sensing device.