Tanner Hunt (right) and partner with their "therapeutic deep pressure apparatus for people with autism spectrum disorder." Photo by CJME's Lisa Schick.

"Blain Bosley with Winston Knoll Collegiate approached the Tetra society with a project: he wanted a device to help calm his students down."

Hunt said the members of his team are all affected by autism spectrum disorder in different ways. Hunt said his mother worked around people with the disorder at a development facility.

Hunt said they thought it was a good project.

"We felt like we gave back without project rather than having another company profit off us."

Just a few dozen yards away, Justin Chevalier stood with the prototype for his team's project which harvests kinetic energy from stairways.

A plate is placed on the stair that depresses slightly when it's stepped on, and that eventually creates energy.

"You're going to use a stair anyways, and you're spending the energy to go up it. If we make you spend slightly more, marginal since you don't notice it, then we can turn that into usable electricity."

Prototype for Chevalier's device. Photo by Lisa Schick, Mar 28 2015.

Chevalier said in a city with high-traffic volumes, it could create enough energy to power local lighting or even digital advertising.

"The opportunity to provide green energy is a big market that's growing. Society's reliance on fossil fuels is causing issues so any new technology that you can develop has the opportunity to go somewhere."

The current model has a few kinks that need to be worked out before the project can be economically feasible, according to Chevalier. But he thinks those changes can be made.

LSchick@rawlco.com
Follow on Twitter: @LMSchickler