The Imperial College London Advanced Hackspace recently put their latest innovations out in the open. As part of this ICL demo day, the various inventors showcased their ideas so that their start-ups could attract attention. The various machines at the exhibition last week included 3D printed autonomous boats, pop-up shelters and sustainable food solutions.
This ICL demo day took place at South Kensington Campus, as part of the college’s Enterprise Month. While the Imperial College often uses technologies like 3D printing and advanced CNC, the Advanced Hackspace focuses on these cutting-edge prototyping systems and gives professional support to help ICL’s community produce innovative products and technologies.
Their newest facility is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It houses a fully equipped bio-lab, state-of-the-art industrial 3D printers, electronics, and metalwork/woodwork equipment. These provide students with ample support so that they can produce inventions for the future.
Innovations from the Advanced Hackspace
One of the inventions that most prominently uses additive manufacturing is the autonomous boat by start-up Seaquest. The company is a collaborative project between Gary Fletcher (Advanced Hackspace fellow) and RS Components, model components producer. Their main aim was to create a robotic surface vessel that can travel autonomously. They displayed a prototype at the ICL demo day, hoping that it would inspire other universities to also join in and create their own versions.
Morphosis is a company comprising Innovation Design Engineering students that takes inspiration from nature. They provide appliances that turn food waste into bio-fertilizer using anaerobic digestion. As microorganisms break down food waste in the absence of oxygen it produces a methane-rich gas that can serve as fuel. According to the company, this new method is far more efficient than existing processes. It also makes a bio fertiliser that is useful in crop growth, providing additional support for agriculture.
Dr José Videira’s company Synbiosys is working on protective pop-up shelters for conflict zones or during humanitarian missions. Using cutting edge materials and super-tough polymers, these may be able to provide on-the-field protection from bullets, bomb-blasts, shockwaves and extreme weather. The designs take quite some inspiration from origami. This makes the tent-like shelters lightweight, portable and easy for a single person to set up. Users can strengthen their structure with sand or near-by materials if need be.
This ICL demo day also brought in a lot of familiar ideas with new spins. One example that springs to mind is the bionic hand by Oliver Stark, a postgraduate student from the Department of Bioengineering. The hand mimics human anatomy to allow for more natural motions and thus manages better dexterity. As the demo day makes clear, ICL’s work in fostering innovation is leading to all sorts novel designs and tech.
Featured images courtesy of ICL.