Student engineering competition seeks applicants for third annual Cornell Cup USA, presented by Intel
ITHACA, N.Y. – Students around the country can now register to participate in Cornell Cup USA, presented by Intel, the popular college-level embedded design competition, which will be held for the third time in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. This year’s competition will be held May 2-3, 2014 at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Teams interested in this year’s competition can register at http://www.systemseng.cornell.edu/intel and follow the “Become a Team” link. This is the first step in formally applying and can be done in just a few minutes.
By registering, teams will receive important notifications such as the date and time for live online information sessions with leading experts from the competition development team, and reminders about deadlines such as the complete application submission deadline of Oct. 18.
Once again this year, the benefit to teams is two-fold. First, teams will get the experience of creating a real-world embedded technology invention, building off of an existing design or court project. Second, the cash prizes are among the highest in college-level competitions. The grand prize winner will take home $10,000, while the runner-up receives a check for $5,000. Third place is $2,500.
In addition to the three top prizes, there is also a pair of $1,000 awards. The People’s Choice Award is given to the favorite project by vote of their peers and the Media Award, judged by members of the media, which is based on team blogs and their presentation at the expo. A $2,500 award being added for the 2014 competition is the optional Entrepreneurship Award, where teams can create an abbreviated business plan around their Cup entry capable of being pitched to venture capitalists.
Teams selected as finalists also get free Intel Atom boards, expert guidance, more than $1,500 to help with supplies or travel, and a three-night stay at the host hotel.
“Cornell Cup USA is shining a spotlight on the brilliant embedded engineering work these young people can do,” said Jim Robinson, general manager, Intel’s Intelligent Systems Group Segments and Broad Market Division, and the keynote speaker at the 2013 competition. “Embedded technologies and intelligent systems can solve big problems facing consumers, businesses and even the government today, and we believe it’s critical to foster and encourage this kind of innovation.”
Last year’s Cornell Cup USA featured 30 teams from 18 universities, and the students dedicated six months to the projects—from conception and design to construction and iterations—all while juggling school work and, in some cases, graduation preparation and job interviews. Throughout the process, the teams had access to Intel Atom boards and input from Intel technical leaders with experience in designing and developing embedded hardware and applications.
“Students today are hungry for the opportunity to showcase what they can really do. They have tremendous innovative spirit—they don’t know if something can be done, but find a way to do it anyway,” said David Schneider, lecturer in Systems Engineering at Cornell. “Thanks to Intel this competition is an opportunity for the students to demonstrate their capabilities on a national stage.”
The University of Pennsylvania’s Titan Arm team that developed an exoskeleton prototype took first-place honors last May, taking home the $10,000 check. The Titan Arm provides an affordable, streamlined and wireless option for rehabilitation and therapeutic application.
Second place at the competition and $5,000 went to a team from Worcester Polytechnic Institute for its Cyber Physical Systems semi-autonomous wheelchair. The wheelchair is combined with a body-brain interface and uses cost-effective, modular sensor packages that can be easily mounted to a variety of commercially available wheelchairs.
Third-place honors and $2,500 went to a team from the University of Colorado, Denver for its Intracell project. The Intracell is comprised of networked cell phone transceiver nodes that function together as a local extension to the global cellular network to provide coverage to areas normally blocked by geographical and architectural constraints.
Any company or organization interested in becoming a sponsor is encouraged to send an email to cornellcupusa@cornell.edu.