The NYU Prototyping Fund is a collaborative program offered by the Design Lab @ NYU Tandon MakerSpace, the Technology Management and Innovation Department, and New York City Future Manufacturing Collective (NYC-FMC), that awards teams of students up to $500 in the first round of funding and up to $2,000 in the second to be used to build hardware or software prototypes, and connects them with the resources, tools, and mentors they need to bring their ideas to life and move to the next stage of product development, while encouraging multidisciplinary collaboration between students at NYU. This semester, 13 teams were selected to represent 3 NYU schools, totaling to almost $6,500 dollars! Schools included Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Tandon School of Engineering, and Tisch School of the Arts.
Throughout their workshops and sessions, they discussed various prototyping techniques as well as “why” and “how” to prototype. Participating teams worked on projects ranging from a physical binary logic gate simple enough for children to understand to a solar panel that chases the sun to a digital saxophone. While some teams are working on physical prototypes and digital components – the principles of early testing, asking questions, and learning from users apply to all of the projects. We encouraged the teams to use prototypes as a method to fail safely (and cheaply) and ultimately, to begin testing as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, April 26th, the cohort showcased their projects in the NYU MakerSpace’s EventSpace. The teams each had to work on their projects, make a poster, and a video explaining their process and designs. Some common themes that popped up were sustainability, health, and hardware. Learn more about the cohort below. We are so proud of how hard the teams worked to build, creatively tested, and received user feedback while using design thinking techniques!
Congratulations to the Teams!
Virtual Saxophone: An electronic version of an acoustic saxophone that replicates all of its form and function. James Arsenault (Tandon BS ‘26)
Recircle: A smart waste segregator to use in homes to keep materials away from landfills. Manan Malpani (Tandon MS ‘24)
Epilepsy Monitor System: Epilepsy is a prevalent issue across the world, and this system helps combat that. Charudatta Mhasde (Tandon PhD ‘24)
Aroid PerfectPole: A modular plant support system for vertically climbing
tropical plants. Cara Hsiao (Stern ’26)
BoxeFence: A sensing headgear that makes boxing safer and more enjoyable. Praneeth Challagonda (Tandon MS ‘22) & Riccardo Negri (Tandon MS ‘22)
Solenoid Engine: The Solenoid Engine replaces gas powered engines with electricity powered ones to be more energy efficient. Devansh Agarwal (Tandon BS ’24)
Gait Assessment System: A wearable device that can assess asymmetric walking patterns in elders and alert their caretakers. Kiruthiga Chandra Shekar (Tandon MS ‘24)
Terrestrial Adornments: Bimorphic armor and prosthetics to explore the symbiosis between humans and nature. Pamela Buscema (Tandon BS ‘23)
EASEEbot: A robot that records moisture readings on building roofs and exports those readings in respect to its position. Our goal is to help building scientists identify anomalies. Bilal Sher (Tandon MS ‘22), Talha Javed (Tandon MS ‘23), Naveen Kumar (Tandon MS ‘23), Sruti Madhusudhan (Tandon MS ‘23), Siddharth Mahesh (Tandon MS ‘23), & Aravindan Vasudevan (Tandon MS ‘23)
SolarSwivel: A solar panel mount that adjusts the orientation of the panel based on the angle of the sun for maximum power generation. Oluwatobi Adeyefa (Tandon BS ‘23)
Binary Logic Gate Blocks: Modular and chain-able blocks that act as binary inputs or logic gates that can be used to help understand Boolean functions. Frank Dulko (Tisch MS ’23)
Periodt: A portable and seamless device that detects the level of contraction by the uterus and provides heat and pressure upon the uterine area accordingly. Aadi Chidambaram (Tandon BS ’26)
The Real Fake Plant: A plant for those who don’t have a green thumb but still seek the benefits of a real house plant. Christina Capelli (Tisch BA ’23)
Learn more about the NYU MakerSpace’s funding opportunities.
