Team with FamiLAB connections wins NASA Space Apps Challenge NYC

FamiLAB member Brooks Zurn traveled to New York City to participate in the NASA SpaceApps Challenge on April 12-13, 2014. She was a member of team “Senti8”, which addressed the challenge “Space Wearable: Fashion Designer to Astronauts”. Astronaut Doug Wheelock told Senti8 team members that the smell of the earth - trees, grass, dirt, were what he missed most during his tenure on the International Space Station. Team Senti8 decided to try to bring the smells of Earth to space and beyond by developing a wearable technology bracelet that could send a “scent message”. Press a button on a phone, and the bracelet remotely emits scent to the receiver.  Scenti8 extended this concept to 5 categories of scent - Nature, Food, Earth, Home, and Custom Scents.By the end of the two-day hackathon, Senti8 had successfully created a prototype that could receive communication from the phone, and a mock-up of the design including working lights and graphics. Senti8 also developed an extensive “company presence” including a website, tumblr progress blog, facebook page, twitter account, Google Plus page, and a “Scent Mall” describing the variety available.Senti8 won “Best Use of Hardware”, and were one of three winners for the NYC Mainstage site. They have submitted their entry for the International NASA SpaceApps competition. View their entry at their website here.  Press includes an Adafruit blog post on the team and several invitations to present at tech and wearables events.FamiLAB members Mike, Jamie, Jessica and Pat  also participated in last year's 2013 NASA SpaceApps project and won the Kennedy Space Center competition with their project "Deployable Greenhouse".Brooks hopes to continue with the project and involve additional FamiLAB members as it progresses.