A design for a wearable exercise system that helps prevent muscle atrophy in microgravity environments has won the top prize in HP and Intel’s Design Challenge: Life in Space.
HP and Intel challenged eight of the top engineering schools in the U.S. to put together cross-disciplinary teams and design a product that would make life better for astronauts living and working in deep space. The winning design came from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), whose team consisted of five students enrolled in mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering and architecture.
The students, Deepshikha Acharya, Vishaal Dhamotharan, Cecilia Ferrando, Kevin Wang and Eugene Yu began designing their system, which they named “Muscle Maximus,” back in January.
The Muscle Maximus exercise system consists of three parts, and is secured by Velcro. The knee and elbow joint braces provide resistance thanks to a fin moving through a viscous fluid. The ball-and-socket shoulder support creates resistance through the interaction of two rough surfaces. An elastic band runs along the spine and straps around the shoulders and waist.
The CMU team’s system is self-sustaining and provides force equivalent to Earth’s gravity through mechanical resistance. Beyond space applications, it also could help people on Earth with muscular issues.
“Muscle atrophy induced by microgravity is one of the leading health concerns for astronauts in space,” Acharya said. “This was a great learning experience, and it feels amazing to win. We hope our idea gets implemented on board the International Space Station soon.”
HP distributed ZBook Studio Mobile Workstations to each team at the start of the contest. These computers are the same as those used by the International Space Station and NASA’s five core space agencies to help astronauts with mission command and control, experiment support, health monitoring and growing food in space. The team got to keep the workstations as part of their prize, which also includes a trip to Cape Canaveral and Epcot Center, along with $1,000 USD.
“While Muscle Maximus was regarded as innovative, impactful and a top choice by HP, NASA and Intel judges, the winner was ultimately decided by public voting,” said Diane Turnshek, CMU Department of Physics faculty and the team’s advisor. “The competition win shines a spotlight on our bright, hard-working students and on our caring, connected community.”
The other two finalists were Oregon State University, with a design for a one-handed tape dispenser with retractable cutting blade, and the University of Texas at Austin with their Modular Expandable Storage System (M.E.S.S.) featuring portable storage containers which can attach to multiple surfaces at multiple angles.
To learn more about the Life in Space challenge and the other student submissions, check out their website.