December 16, 2011 — MEMS and semiconductor supplier STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM, ST) has hosted 3 2011 iNEMO Campus Design Contests, for the US, China and Taiwan. This week, Taiwan’s first place went to students from the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. The group, called "Total Annihilation," used the iNEMO board to transform a hula hoop into a sports monitoring system for health care applications.
The Smart Hula Hoop measures a user’s waistline and detects exercise levels, monitoring and recording the data. The design accesses and fuses output data from iNEMO’s on-board accelerometer (gravity and acceleration); e-Compass (absolute heading orientation); and gyroscope (angular velocity during rotation).
The design fully utilized 9 of the 10 degrees of freedom (DOF) available from iNEMO’s micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), integrating motion detection technology with a consumer need, or "smart-life concept." Total Annihilation received a prize of NT$60,000 from ST. The Smart Hula Hoop combines iNEMO MEMS sensor technology with "engineering creativity," said Patrick Boulaud, STMicroelectronics regional VP, Analog Power & MEMS, Greater China and South Asia Region.
In addition to the champion, the judges selected a second and third place winner and seven honorable mentions, which were awarded, respectively, prizes of NT$40,000, NT$30,000 and NT$5,000 each.
Nearly 145 students and young engineers in Taiwan submitted 32 designs to the 2011 iNEMO contest. Entries were judged based on a combination of function and practicality, implementation, creativity, presentation and final demonstration. Contest winners were revealed in conjunction with ST’s Annual MEMS Symposium held in Taipei.
The open competition, co-sponsored by Taiwan’s Association of Nanotechnology and Micro System and launched to showcase ST’s iNEMO evaluation and development tool, promotes MEMS design innovation among university students in Taiwan. See China’s winners here. And the US team here.
Further information about the iNEMO contest in Taiwan can be found at http://www.st-inemo.com.tw/
STMicroelectronics provides semiconductors for consumer and portable applications.