Engineer of the Future Fund Recipients

Past Engineer of the Future Fund recipients say thank you and explain what the support of the fund has meant for their ventures.

Spring 2026

LARS (LED-Amplified Radio System) - LARS is a compact, room-temperature solid-state MASER prototype that uses LED optical pumping to demonstrate low-noise coherent microwave amplification in a more practical, lower-cost, and reproducible package.

Porphyrin BioPigments - We are developing a fermentation-based platform to produce a palette of sustainable bacterial pigments, including but not limited to red, green, purple, and blue colourants, as natural alternatives to synthetic and extraction-based pigments for food, beverage, cosmetic, and biotechnology applications.

MELO - A non invasive, flexible wearable patch that continuously monitors cortisol levels in sweat to provide psychological stress assessment.

AllioHealth - AllioGo is redefining breast pumping with biomimetic technology that improves comfort, milk expression, and discretion to support longer breastfeeding duration.

KinetiCurve - Develop an instrumented, orthopedic brace for posture correction in mild high-risk lumbar Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) patients through passive haptic posture reminders and minimal tension loads to promote core strengthening.

Innowind Energy - On wind turbines, Innowind's Robotic Fin is an AI-controlled active vortex generator that dynamically actuates blade-surface fins to eliminate dynamic stall and flow separation in real time, reacting 100x faster than conventional pitch systems for a 15% AEP gain.

Colony Dynamics - Fully autonomous long-endurance survey operations across remote and difficult terrain.  https://colony.tech/

Steadi-Knee - A passive, battery-free knee brace featuring a polycentric hinge and shear-thickening fluid damper that self-tunes to provide dynamic impact attenuation during the heel-strike pain window.

RTU Performance Monitor - A non-invasive hardware device that continuously monitors commercial HVAC rooftop units, detects equipment degradation before failure occurs, and automatically optimizes energy consumption.

ComfortLens - ComfortLens is a human-centered design evaluation platform that helps architects and interior designers assess occupant comfort, focus, and wellbeing before construction.

Canis - ThePack is a marketplace where trusted AI agents with specialized skills and private knowledge can complete standardized tasks for customers, get verified through platform-based execution and review, and earn revenue for their owners through a Results-as-a-Service model.

VECTOR (Variable Emission Controlled Thermite Orbital Reaction) - The VECTOR Project aims to design a low cost, compact solid fuel microthruster for small satellite collision avoidance and deorbiting maneuver.

PATS - PATS is a non-invasive LED photoacoustic tissue scanner used to quantitatively analyze the concentration of bruise components and indicate bruise healing progression.

StrideMate - Wearable AI for Predictive Gait Assistance - StrideMate is a wearable-sensor AI system that predicts a person’s next full lower-limb gait cycle from IMU and EMG signals, enabling exoskeletons, prostheses, and rehabilitation robots to assist more smoothly, safely, and proactively.

LumbarTech - LumbarTech is producing an expandable lumbar fusion cage for spinal fusion surgery to address the limitations of current spinal implants by improving the implant stability and reduce the risk of sinking in order to provide a better recovery outcomes.

Winter 2026

Bumble Bot - BumbleBot is a retrofittable, AI-powered Smart Cart platform that provides greenhouse growers with granular, real-time heatmaps of pollination readiness and crop health to optimize fruit set and yield consistency.

Aqualis Bio - We are developping a genetically engineered fish probiotic to biosynthesize astaxanthin in vivo to reduce costs and eliminate reliance on synthetic, petroleum-derived sources that are currently used.

ExtendiHealth Systems - AI-powered diagnostic kiosks that divert non-urgent patients from overcrowded ERs by providing real clinical care, vitals capture, physician consultations, and prescriptions on site at pharmacies and hospitals.

ABR Detect - Our capstone seeks to design and validate a portable, low-cost electromagnetic screening device that rapidly identifies the presence of antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections at the point of care, enabling earlier treatment decisions in settings where access to conventional laboratory testing is limited.

Handl - Handl is an affordable, portable, self-stabilizing attachment designed for everyday utensils, used to make eating easier for individuals with hand tremors.

Debris Scout - DebriScout is a compact, plug-and-play payload that helps satellites detect nearby small orbital debris using a radar + camera pair and onboard processing, so operators can reduce collision risk and collect better debris data.

Allio Health - Allio Go is a wearable, wireless breast pump that recreates the natural biomechanics of infant feeding through coordinated compression and vacuum suction, redefining comfort, discretion, and effectiveness for lactating parents.

PRISM - Prosthetic Residuum Interface Sensing Module - A device for pressure sensing at the interface between the prosthetic socket and the residual limb, alerting transtibial amputees and their clinicians of high-pressure areas during daily prosthetic use to prevent skin injury.

NeuroFlow - An automated external ventricular drainage system that reduces the manual monitoring burden on medical staff and standardizes patient care by enabling robust drainage of excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), mitigation and clearance of blockages, and alerting staff when safety-critical actions are required.

PinPoint - PinPoint is an automated printed circuit board (PCB) probing system designed to revolutionize traditional approaches for hardware validation and debugging by parsing PCB design files and precisely probing chosen points through a web-controlled, AI-integrated, remotely accessible platform.

L.I.D.D.E Loupes - A head-mounted digital visualization system for medical use that enables adjustable close-up magnification, ergonomic viewing, real time shared viewing, and AI medical screening.

Fall 2025

Eunoia - Eunoia is an emotionally intelligent giving platform that uses AI and blockchain to match donors to causes, verify donations on-chain, and auto-generate impact stories that build trust and transparency.

Olevius - Olevius is a cuff-free wearable that uses a compact optical-fiber sensor and real-time signal processing to continuously estimate blood pressure with clinical accuracy and secure data transfer to healthcare providers.

CoolFlash - Design a cooling device to be worn by individuals experiencing hot flashes caused by menopause that minimizes symptoms with fast-acting and automatic features.

VitalWave - VitalWave is a contactless radar-AI health monitoring system that delivers real-time tracking of heart, breathing signals, and fall detection for safer, smarter care.

·         Winner of the Tanguay Prize

LeiLei Zhao - A system for the architectural applications of the double curvature of wood.

MTE Capstone Group 6 - A lightweight, wheelchair-mountable breathing assistance system that provides non-invasive respiratory support through gentle abdominal compression, enabling patients with respiratory conditions to maintain mobility and independence.

Nectar Ninja - Nectar Ninja is an autonomous, low-cost robotic system that uses computer vision to detect pollination-ready flowers in greenhouse environments and mechanically transfers pollen to ensure consistent yields without damaging plants.

VitEx - VitEx reimagines triage with a disposable wristband for continuously monitoring glucose and heart rate levels within emergency departments, providing a data-based approach.

H.A.L.O. - A wearable device for animals that continuously monitors animal vitals (temp., pulse, resp.) to provide real-time data and alerts for veterinarians and caregivers.

KneeGen - KneeGen is a highly personalized, long-lifetime meniscal implant, that can be non-invasively repaired while inside of the body, removing the need for additional surgeries upon implant damage.

SpastiSENSE - A wearable at-home monitoring device for children with spastic cerebral palsy that tracks muscle stiffness and provides clinicians with actionable, longitudinal insights for improved treatment planning.

PRISM - Prosthetic Residuum Interface Sensing Module - A device for pressure sensing at the interface between the prosthetic socket and the residual limb, alerting transtibial amputees and their clinicians of high-pressure areas during daily prosthetic use to prevent skin injury.

DABAM Capstone - Design an automatic fluid injector that would allow for consistent synthesizing of nanoparticles, by controlling volume, flowrate and timing of adding liquid chemicals to a solution.

HearMate - A portable, low-latency companion device that connects to existing hearing aids and uses AI-enhanced DSP to isolate and amplify the voice you are focused on in crowded, multi-talker learning environments, measurably improving speech intelligibility (target speech intelligibility index ≥ 63%).