DALLAS, TX -- /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) (NASDAQ:TXN) selected students from Rice University as the overall winners of its fifth annual Analog Design Contest Engibous Prize—an analog design award that showcases the imaginative spirit and inner competitive streak of today's aspiring innovators. The students—Richard Latimer, Adam Samaniego, Kevin Beale, George Chen and Minhee Park—integrated the MSP430, N channel power MOSFET, step down switching voltage regulator, power amplifier and low dropout regulator from TI in the construction of their project.
This year's winning entry is a device called mobileVision, which allows untrained individuals to take snapshots of a retina outside of a clinical environment. Pairing an LED with various optics illuminates the retina, and pictures are then transmitted via an IP camera to a smartphone for an ophthalmologist for review remotely.
During the 2011–12 school year, 40 accredited engineering colleges and universities from the U.S. and Canada participated in the TI Analog Design Contest, which drew nearly 500 participants. This year's Engibous Summit, named after former TI chairman and CEO Thomas Engibous, attracted some of the top engineering minds at the university level who wanted to match their design skills against other leading innovators. Teams representing 12 universities presented their projects to a panel of distinguished TI and guest judges during the three-day event.
"Engineering students are vital to the future of the electronics industry. That's why TI is actively engaged with universities around the world, and why we sponsor the annual Engibous Prize competition," said Brian Crutcher, senior vice president and general manager of TI's Analog business. "Congratulations to team mobileVision from Rice University. These students, along with the other finalists, demonstrate the spirit of ingenuity and innovation that this award represents."
Engibous Prize Top Winners
Cash prizes were awarded to the top three winners—$10,000 for first place, $7,500 for second place and $5,000 for third place—as well as a $1,000 prize to the "People's Choice" winner.
First Place
- Rice University, Houston
- mobileVision—A portable, scalable retinal imaging system
- Richard Latimer, Adam Samaniego, Kevin Beale, George Chen and Minhee Park
- Oregon State University
- Wireless Hand Sensor—Rotational tracking to control a computer mouse
- Mushfiqur Sarker, Jason Muhlestein and Anton Bilbaeno
- University of Toronto
- A Wireless Sensor Node Powered by a PV / SuperCapacitor / Battery Trio
- Matthew Martino and Jordan Varley
- University of Central Florida
- Knight Sweeper 4200—Automating metal detecting vehicles
- Phong Le, Brandon Reeves, Jerard Jose and Josh Haley
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