Electronic Design and Machine Design have announced the three winning designs from the second phase of the 2016 Engineering Academic Program Bracket Challenge. The initial phase bracket contest paired 32 of the top collegiate electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering academic programs.

Electronic Design and Machine Design engineering audiences and engineering students from across the country voted each week for five weeks to select the bracket winner and open the door for the next generation of engineers to participate in a juried online design competition. Engineering students from the winning academic program, Purdue University, were then eligible to participate in an online design challenge where their designs were reviewed by Electronic Design/Machine Design editorial staff and judged by Digi-Key and industry leaders.

The student design contest challenged these Purdue engineering students to create and develop a design that would connect the world through the Internet of Things (IoT) using Digi-Key’s Scheme-it tool, Texas Instruments’ TM4C123G LaunchPad™ as the building block, and incorporating at least one TE Connectivity component into the design.

The top three winning designs all showcase the usage of sensors and advanced technology in areas such as health and fitness, automotive connectivity, and nutrition intake. The winners and their designs are:

First Place: Orlando Hoilett (BME) - Won an Apple Macbook Pro
Design: Multi-Sensor Fitness Band. A wearable biometrics sensor that is able to monitor important biomarkers for health and fitness including dehydration, heart rate, blood oxygenation, skin temperature, and humidity. When biosensor data is combined with weather and geographical data, the goal is to ultimately create a susceptibility score/risk factor for illness.

Second Place: Ribhav Agarwal, Alek Patel, and Vinay Nagarajan (ECE) - Won an Apple iPad Air
Sensor Car. A car designed to provide connectivity for the user to operate the vehicle via sensors.

Third Place: Supriyo Maji (ECE) - Won a GoPro Hero4 Session camera
Nutrition Sensor. Design using force sensors fitted in food containers to monitor daily intake of nutrition by measuring and calculating the change in weight of the food.

The Academic Engineering Program was the third annual bracket contest held by Electronic Design and  Machine Design. This year’s program is an excellent example of how current engineers and manufacturers are helping future engineers navigate the competitive world of engineering.

The 2017 Contest has just been announced and will kick off with a new set of 32 of the top engineering universities in the United States based on a combination of criteria including US News rankings, performance in design competitions, participation in key research areas, and more. The contest begins March 1, 2017, and promises to again engage and inspire a new generation of engineers looking to use technology to help the world.