“A prototype is nothing other than a single question, embodied”, claims Diego Rodriguez, Partner and Global Managing Director, IDEO Ventures.

And this is what each prototype presented at the Prototyping Fund Showcase on December 6, 2016 at NYU Tandon MakerSpace: a question embodied. Each of the eleven teams presented their prototype, and the answers they collected during the semester, as well as some new questions to prototype further.

The fall Prototyping Fund Showcase, a collaboration between the Greenhouse Program at NYU Tandon and the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute hosted eleven multidisciplinary teams, combining undergraduate and graduate students from multiple schools – CAS, Gallatin, ITP, Tandon, Steinhardt, Stern and Wagner.

The range of fields explored was broad: health, aging, sustainability, food, disability, and communication. (See below for a description of all the different prototypes).

It was exciting to hear all the teams tell us how they plan to prototype further and refine their ideas over the next semester. Two teams, Peris and Resprana, pitched at the $300K NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge a few days after the Showcase and we are thrilled to report that both teams made it to the next stage!

Even more exciting was to see many teams apply to for Prototyping Fund Phase 2 grants (of up to $2,000), our own prototyping effort to see how to best support teams to refine and develop their ideas. Reflecting on the previous Fund cohorts, we have decided, thanks to a VentureWell grant, to provide further support to some of the teams.

Looking forward to seeing the ideas of the teams selected for Prototyping Phase 2 evolve during this semester and to receiving the applications for our Spring Prototyping Fund (application here). We invite you to come and see the prototypes from all awardees (Prototyping Fund and Prototyping Fund Phase 2) on April 25, 2017 for our Spring’17 Prototyping Fund Showcase at the Tandon MakerSpace.
Anne-Laure Fayard (NYU Tandon) and Sarah Maibach (NYU Entrepreneurial Institute) aka the Prototyping Fund Team

List of the prototypes presented at the Prototyping Fund Showcase:

Filament Maker: Small machine that takes shredded and melted recycled plastic bottles and turns into filament for 3D printers. Dakota Marin, Tandon ‘19; and Roshaun Morris, Tandon ‘19.

Food Computer: Controlled-environmental agriculture platform that uses robotic systems to control plant growth inside a growing chamber. Omar Gowayed, Tandon ‘21; Jonas Gunther, Tandon ‘18; and Selim Senocak, Tandon ‘18.

FREEdge: The world's first smart community sharing refrigerator, which keeps a track of the kind of foods shared by people. Simon Chen, Tandon ‘18, Emma Hoffman, Gallatin ‘18; Rodney Lobo, Tandon ‘17; Tuba Naziruddin, Tandon ‘18; and Michael Niamehr, CAS ‘19.

Hümble: Wearable charging device that helps American customers connect with Syrian refugees by donating profits to an organization building solar power stations in Syria.
Mary Gao, Stern ‘20; Kohtaro Kosugiyama, CAS ‘20; William Lee, Tandon ‘19; and Christina Perry, Gallatin ‘20.

INVIP: An electronic travel aid for visually impaired individuals to understand their surroundings easily and safely move around indoor locations. Nicolas Metallo, Tandon ‘17; Nuvina Padukka, Tandon ‘17; and Brenda Truong; Tandon ‘17.

Periph: An open source ecosystem of specialized peripheral devices for smartphones in order to offload computation and display to phones that everybody already carries. Mithru Vigneshwara Swarna, Tisch ‘18.

Peris: A tamper-resistant pill bottle equipped with a timing mechanism to ensure single pill delivery. Han Deng, Tandon ‘19; Anderson Cone, Tandon ‘19; and Artin Perse, Tandon ‘19.

Resprana: A wearable filter for the nose and mouth that utilizes the efficiency of existing filters, but is smaller and more comfortable. Micah Steiger, Stern '18, Jai Rathore, Tandon ‘17; Sophie Frank, Stern ‘17; Sukanya Goswami, Tandon ‘16; and Andrea McDonald, Stern 17.

Service Bot: Aims to become something like a service dog, informing authorities when danger is near and helping perform tasks such as guiding. Aidan Collins, Tandon ‘18; Kristin Moser, Tandon ‘18; Sevde Talubas, Tandon ‘18; and Lazarus Toshi, Tandon ‘18.

TECHnically Speaking: Communication and room control device for ventilator dependent patients in pediatric and adult intensive care unit with limited mobility. Mark Arroz, Steinhardt ‘17; Jason Beck, Tisch ‘17 (ITP); Ifetayo Estrada, Steinhardt ‘17; and YiWei Hsu, Tandon ‘18.

Virtual 50+ Fitness Classes: Virtual Fitness classes for women who are 50+ to help with mobility and fall prevention. Richard Sheng, Stern ‘12; Ayush Singhvi, Tandon ‘17; and Vivian Wang, Wagner ‘17.