Cara Nunez was confident in her speaking abilities when she walked into the Rhode Island 911爆料 Plan Competition in December, but as a participant in the Elevator Pitch Contest, she had only 90 seconds to convince a team of judges that the device she and a group of fellow students had invented could be successfully commercialized. When she finished her pitch, she was surprised that the five judges had no questions or feedback to offer. That鈥檚 because she did so well. The student won the competition鈥檚 top prize.
鈥淭here were a lot of really great ideas and a lot of great presenters,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome were seasoned and had a lot of experience, and a couple had already started businesses. But I have given a lot of presentations in class and knew I had to the ability to speak well and get my ideas across clearly.鈥�
Cara pitched a business plan for commercializing a wearable eye-tracking device that can control a robotic arm. The device, created with four other students as part of an engineering class, is intended to help patients with mobility-impairments accomplish daily tasks.
They built a robotic arm using a 3D printer and then attached a pixie camera with built-in tracking capabilities to a helmet. 鈥淭he camera is pointed at the wearer鈥檚 eye, and if you want to move the arm left or right, you just move your pupil left or right,鈥� she explained. Cara envisions the camera system would eventually be connected to a headband or eyeglasses to make it less noticeable. She imagines the arm could be strapped to the patient or mounted on a wheelchair.
鈥淚鈥檓 applying to grad schools and hope one day to be a professor,鈥� she said of her future plans. 鈥淚 like working with students and people with new ideas, and I鈥檓 looking forward to leading my own students on projects like this one.鈥�