Of the more than 500 teams that applied, two Oregon State teams were among the top 35 to make it to the finals of Intel’s 2014 Cornell Cup competition, held on May 2 and 3 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. After three rounds of judging by Intel representatives including a floor presentation, and a formal pitch to an audience — both teams were awarded honorable mention.

The competition gives students the real-world experience of working as a team to design a product for a client. “There will be supply chain issues, there will be hobgoblins in what should be working hardware, there will be times when you absolutely lose the motivation to fix the last few issues. How you overcome these challenges dictates what kind of engineer you are,” said Kevin McGrath, adviser to the teams.
Read the whole story by Rachel Robertson.

 

 

MetroSwiftDrivers distracted by the gadgets on their cars cause thousands of deaths each year. To address the problem, Steven Reid, David Taylor, Ryan Kalb, and Patrick Simonson set out to design an automobile dashboard that minimizes distractions by simplifying the interface and narrowing the driver’s focus to the steering wheel and the dashboard in front of it. Their interface won an honorable mention in Intel’s 2012 Cornell Cup competition.

“We want to reinvent the driver experience,” said Reid. “Safer, more efficient, but still have that rich, interactive experience — that’s what people are used to. We’re trying to build that in, but not make it distracting.” Continue reading