Every year, the Rochester Institute of Technology hosts Imagine RIT, an innovation and creativity festival “that showcases the innovative and creative spirit of RIT students, faculty and staff.” The festival is free to the public and really brings the community together to celebrate technology, science, art, innovation, and creativity! We had the chance to attend this weekend and we had a blast looking at all of the engineering projects on display.

Exhibits for All Ages

There are tons of different types of projects being showcased, but many fall within two categories: projects that help people, and projects that get children (and adults) excited about technology and science. The following exhibits are just a small snapshot of the many projects that were particularly exciting for the community.

FLUIDS ARE FUN: Hydraulic Shock Wave Table. This table was especially fun for the kids. By pushing different shapes through a stream of moving water, they were able to intuitively understand shock waves. This is something easily reproducible at home, so start building!

Tiger Paws: Meet the Future Mouse. This project, presented by the computer science students, allows you to control your PC by waving your hands in the air, rather than with a mouse. The tennis-like game demo was especially a hit for the young kids, while the older kids really enjoyed navigating through Google Earth with a wave of their hand.

While it is required that Engineering Senior Design projects upload all of their design files and documentation to the RIT Edge project server, there are so many other amazing projects that have no online information. If more groups wrote blog posts or posted build logs, Imagine RIT would have an even larger impact with the community and online.

Assistive Technologies

Motorized Pediatric Stander: This Senior Design Project consists of a motorized frame which allows a disabled child to move around their environment in an upright position. What a great concept and a cool device! Learn more about this well-built and well-presented idea on its project page on Edge.

Wheelchair Assist: The main goal of this augmented wheelchair project is to “stop the user from rolling back down an incline and to help the user with slowing the chair when moving down a slope.” The secondary goal of this project is to add a generator to the wheelchair that allows charging of cell phones and portable devices.

Manufacturing Technologies

Every university likes to show off their capabilities and what makes them unique. The Brinkman Lab at RIT has some very unique direct write capabilities, but they also have a menagerie of CNC machines, 3D printers, and other devices that were shown off at Imagine RIT. The following photos are of some very cool machinery that students can use to create their class projects, personal projects, and more!

Closing Remarks

This wonderful event happens every year in May and is always a ton of fun. It is an opportunity for the community to experience the future at the Rochester Institute of Technology: “On a sundrenched day, with summery temperatures, more than 30,000 people came to campus to tour the more than 400 interactive exhibits that comprised the sixth annual Imagine RIT.”

If you are ever in upstate New York in May, be sure to stop by Imagine RIT!