Trinity Tube was selected as the winning team for the Judge’s Award sponsored by Avnet at the eighth annual ASU Innovation Open (ASUio).
Established in 2017 by Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and Avnet, the ASUio is designed to challenge and advance university student innovators from across the world who are aiming to develop technology ventures. This year’s competition included 26 teams from across the U.S. and as far away as Germany and Austria. Their innovative ideas, most of which are in the patent and testing phase of development, varied in scope from medical tests that identify internal trauma to socks that eliminate odor.
Trinity Tube, a team from the University of Texas at Austin, is working on a class II medical device that will revolutionize care for premature babies. Most babies in the NICU are attached to up to 20 devices for monitoring and feeding. Trinity tube combines these services into one, minimally invasive tube that provides feeding and monitoring through a series of temperature and pressure sensors.
Trinity Tube, developed by engineers and clinicians from the University of Texas at Austin, is an innovative flexible catheter, that integrates feeding, venting, and non-invasive vital signs monitoring, providing a comprehensive solution to improve the care and comfort of premature infants while enhancing the effectiveness of respiratory support methods like HFNC. Their product removes many of the tubes and connections to premature infants, providing more comfort and protecting from skin irritation while monitoring a more accurate result.
Todd Hatcher, Solutions Business Development Manager for Avnet and judge for this year’s competition, shared that this particular entry hit close to home for him, as his son was born premature and he remembers all too well the tubes and monitoring devices.
The ASUio provides critical venture mentorship and funding for student competitors launching a hardware enterprise within a wide variety of cutting-edge marketplaces including but not limited to hardware solutions, IoT and social enterprises focusing on conscious capitalism. This year’s event was the largest of its kind across the country, with over $400,000 in prize money awarded.
The winners were announced during an event on Feb. 9. Additional winners and sponsors of the program can be found at: https://asu.io/participants/
