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West Point's "Supercharged" Takes First
Prize in MIT Soldier Design Competition
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"Supercharged" from the U.S. Military
Academy won the Raytheon first prize award at the second
annual MIT Soldier Design Competition. Left to right:
Nick Barry, Jeremy Spruce, Walter Velasquez
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 2, 2005 – Power, cooling, and
casualty evacuation were recurrent themes at last night’s
final judging of the second annual MIT Soldier Design Competition—a
reflection of the harsh realities of Soldiers’ lives
in combat.
The five undergraduate Cadets of team "Supercharged"
from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (USMA) won the
Raytheon first place award of $5,000 for their battery scavenger
system for recovering the power remaining in partially depleted
batteries. Pocket-sized, rugged, and inexpensive, the device
could reduce Soldiers’ battery needs by 15-20 percent,
providing a significant savings in weight carried in the field,
environmental impact, and cost.
The Boeing second place award of $3,000 went to the “Ancile”
team, also from USMA, for their computerized tracking system
that provides Soldiers with advance warning of incoming strikes
through small radio pagers. Team “ATLAS” from
MIT took the SAIC third place award of $3,000 for their powered
rope ascender.
One fourth place award of $2,000 went to each school: Team
“Joe Proof” from USMA took the Charles River award
for their hands-free casualty carriage system, and Team “Grapefruit”
from MIT took the Hudson River award for their battery scavenger
and recharge system. A director’s award of $1,000 for
special achievement went to the “Cool Warrior”
team for their cooling system for Interceptor® body armor.
(See full rosters of winning teams.)
About 200 people attended the finals, which featured fifteen
teams from USMA and MIT demonstrating prototypes of practical,
non-weapons devices of use to Soldiers and Marines as well
as police, firefighters, and other emergency first responders.
“This Competition is about putting new technology into
Soldiers' hands soon,” said Prof. Ned Thomas, director
of the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, which sponsors
the Competition. “These are real problems we’re
addressing, and the Army is very interested in the innovations
that are coming out of these student teams.”
The judges for the finals included uniformed and civilian
representatives of the Army and Marine Corps, as well as individuals
from MIT and industry. General Benjamin Griffin, senior Army
guest at the event, was very impressed with the students’
and Cadets’ efforts on behalf of Soldier protection,
noting that fresh ideas can often bring solutions to old problems.
“These ideas have direct application to the challenges
of today’s Army,” said Griffin, who is Commanding
General of Army Materiel Command. “From where I sit,
there is nothing more important than what you’re doing
here tonight.”
The Army was so impressed with one of last year’s winning
inventions—a system to digitize Soldiers’ hand-arm
communications signals—they have funded the team with
a small business research grant to continue development.
The MIT Soldier Design Competition is sponsored using non-Army
monies by the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, a multidisciplinary
research center established at MIT in 2002 by a $50 million,
five-year contract with the U.S. Army. The goal is to offer
the Soldier of the future unprecedented advances in survivability
through cutting-edge nanotechnology. The ISN’s research
focuses largely on materials and devices that will better
protect the Soldier from ballistic, chemical, biological,
and nuclear threats.
Summary of Winning Teams:
Raytheon Award of $5,000
Supercharged
Nicholas Berry, Glen Dudevoir, George Nowak, Jeremy Spruce,
Walter Velasquez (USMA)
Battery Scavenger and Recharge System
Boeing Award of $3,000
Ancile
Jamie Dayton, Jeffrey Hermanson, Gregory Isham, Brian Lebiednik
(USMA)
Soldier Tracking System
SAIC Award of $3,000
ATLAS
Nate Ball, Tim Fofonoff, Bryan Schmid, Dan Walker (MIT)
Powered Rope Ascender
Charles River Award of $2,000
Joe Proof
Owen Fogarty, Erich Jordan, John McCaskey, Venkat Motupalli,
Jamie Pittman (USMA)
Hands-Free Casualty Carriage System
Hudson River Award of $2,000
Grapefruit
John McBean, Kailas Narendran, Rachel Niehuus, Billy Waldman
(MIT)
Battery Scavenger and Recharge System
Director's Award of $1,000
Cool Warrior
Ethan Crumlin, Francisco Cruz, Forrest Liau, Michael Motion
(MIT)
Cooling System for Interceptor Body Armor
The 2004-2005 MIT Soldier Design Competition was sponsored
in part by Raytheon, Boeing, and SAIC.
For more information about any aspect of the Competition,
please email us at soldierdesign@mit.edu.
Back to Competition main page.
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