The folding pen mouse concept will shift from a mouse to a tablet pen, providing two ways to interact with the screen. The folding pen mouse will be equipped with a pair of sensors - one on the tip and one on the base - and a recessed hinge system that will allow it to be folded in half and secured with magnets. When used as a tablet pen, the device will sense speed, direction and pressure. In mouse form, it will perform the usual mouse functions.

The system will be an electronic "seeing aid," allowing the legally blind to see by projecting a video image that has been enhanced to compensate for the wearer's particular vision problem. The system will include a frame that will contain the user's prescription lenses overlaid with a headset containing an HD video camera and a pair of LCD screens. The device will be controlled by a handheld unit, which will allow the user to adjust the contrast, focus and brightness as well as...

A tiny, microfluidic water sensor will not only be much more sensitive than current options, it will also be mass-produced for just five dollars each. The chip will be inserted into the soil or stem of a plant. It will contain a tiny cavity filled with water, and it will exchange that moisture with the moisture in its environment through a nanoporous membrane. As the moisture flows from one side to the other, the chip will measure any changes in pressure that will result from water...

Protect your mobile devices with the USB condom, designed to prevent your phone from having its data stolen at public charging ports. Because the power receptacle on a smartphone is also its data transfer port, plugging in at public places carries some risk of juice-jacking, or having the data stolen. The USB condom will sit between the phone and the power source and control which of the four pins will connect to the charging port. By routing only the power pins and blocking the...

A flexible, clear glass able to store renewable energy at high temperatures could help increase interest in alternative energy options and electric cars. Most modern capacitors are designed to operate at lower temperatures, which requires the addition of a bulky, heavy cooling system. In contrast, the new glass will be able to function at temperatures up to, and beyond, 180 degrees Celsius. The glass will be one-tenth the thickness of display glass currently on the market,...

A new, simpler method of creating smart textiles will involve coating the fibers with silver rather than needing to weave the fibers with conductive materials. The process will be carried out by coating the individual fibers with a 20 nanometer-thick layer of silver. The extremely conductive coating will bond to a wide range of materials while allowing the fibers to remain stretchable and flexible. In contrast, the woven-style smart textile are often less flexible. The silver...

A new wetsuit for surfers and swimmers will help prevent shark attacks by making the wearer invisible and seemingly less tasty to sharks. The will be two wetsuit styles that will help deter attacks in two different ways. One, designed for swimmers and divers, will use a Cryptic Pattern that will cause the wearer to blend into the background, making them difficult for sharks to see. The other, for surfers, will feature a Warning Pattern that will mimic the patterns of untasty fish,...

The idea is to develop a set of earbuds that will provide a non-invasive method of monitoring pressure inside the skull. Usually, intercranial pressure is measured by drilling a hole in the skill and inserting a catheter--a process that is both expensive and somewhat risky, and therefore used only in serious cases. The earbuds, in contrast, will be used in cases that won't require such extreme procedures, but will still benefit from pressure monitoring. The earbuds will...

Inspired by a hamster ball, the robot will propel itself along the ground without any limbs or wheels (or hamsters). A system of pendulums will swing in two different directions in order to shift the robot's center of mass. As a pendulum swings to the right or left, the robot will naturally move in the opposite direction as it will attempt to stabilize (the same thing happens when a hamster runs up one side of the hamster ball). The robot could be used as a low-cost system...

The idea is to develop drones able to fly into tornadoes to gather. These drones will be created to replace storm chasers. Each one will meet certain standards, including the ability to take off from a typical road, to land and fly in gusts up to 28 mph and to be transported in a standard flat-bed trailer. The drones must also be able to carry at least one dropsonde into the storm, which is a cylinder containing sensors that can be released to quickly gather storm data.