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Invention November 16, 2018

For agriculture’s sake, NYIT is getting its sensors dirty

By GREGORY ZELLER // New methods for analyzing soil – a big potential boost for agricultural efficiency – may be coming soon from the New York Institute of Technology. Researchers at NYIT’s College of Engineering and Computing Sciences have snagged a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant supporting their development of new technologies comprising an in-ground, real-time soil-nutrient sensing system (with accompanying flying robots). Their goal: to sample soil and dig deep into its chemical composition,…

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Invention November 21, 2017

Northwell innovators think outside the box, and in

By GREGORY ZELLER // Bioelectronics and “smart” tech won the day in the Northwell Health 2017 Innovation Challenge. The challenge, which invited the New Hyde Park-based health system’s 63,000-plus employees to submit groundbreaking healthcare ideas for a shot at project-development funding, eventually came down to two champions at Northwell Health’s Made For Big Ideas Showcase in October – a bioelectronic device designed to reduce premature births and a “smart” laboratory container that knows when a…

Invention August 18, 2017

Rolling Motion rolls out next-gen traction drive

By GREGORY ZELLER // Everywhere he goes, John Pawloski causes friction. And that’s a good thing, especially for Rolling Motion Industries, Pawloski’s North Babylon-based 2016 startup. Rolling Motion is the exclusive (so far) manufacturer of the RMI Traction Drive, a super-efficient transmission system that masters “rolling friction” principles and aims to become an indispensable industrial cog. It looks like the cog has legs: This month, Pawloski’s enterprise received its first order through a newly established…

Invention December 20, 2016

In energy harvesting, the wheels never stop turning

By GREGORY ZELLER // Ramuel Maramara is pedaling an all-new energy-harvesting device, and as usual, he’s not thinking small. His “artificial jellyfish” technology, still gearing up for a major dress rehearsal off the Philippine coast, is looking to revolutionize the renewable energy industry. And yeah, as a bonus, the tech has potential desalination side effects that are still in the earliest developmental stages, but could someday provide virtually boundless freshwater supplies on a global scale. These are not…

Invention October 12, 2016

IPS-designed smart safe enters the war on drugs

By GREGORY ZELLER // Perpetual monitoring of your prescription medications is now an app away. A Westchester distributor has taken to Indiegogo with humanity’s “first Internet of Things-integrated personal safe,” and while there’s no reason you couldn’t use it to secure a passport, diamond or wad of Benjamins, the iKeyp is specifically “designed to disrupt the cycle of prescription drug theft and abuse,” according to Solo Technology Holdings LLC. Aiming for $50,000 in 45 days,…

Invention October 2, 2016

Brew ha-ha: Seriously silly inventor strikes again

By GREGORY ZELLER // There’s always something brewing at Mary Putre’s house, sometimes literally. The relentless inventor – creative force behind Eyecatcher Gifts and much of its whacky inventory – believes she’s struck gold, again, with her latest doodad: the My Brew-Tini Kup, a portable, hand-held device that turns out steaming cups of joe, sans electricity. Putre, a regular at meetings of the Nassau County Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club, showed off her latest invention at…

Invention September 18, 2016

Hofstra mechatronics lift SBU startup

By GREGORY ZELLER // Well, that worked just like they drew it up. Inside three short months, ThermoLift’s strategic research partnership with Hofstra University’s Center for Innovation has engineered advanced mechatronic controls for the Stony Brook-based startup’s cutting-edge heat pump technology. Attacking a design problem with a mechatronics solution – combining mechanical, electronic, computerized and control systems – helps his company take a big step toward a critical testing phase, according to ThermoLift CEO Paul…