Although they took first honors in SPU's recent Social Venture Business Plan Competition last April for their brainwave-controlled wheelchair concept, SPU's NIA Wheel team wasn't stopping there. Only a few weeks later, the team brought home a $5,000 Finalist Prize and the $5,000 AARP Prize for Low-Income Senior Service.
"They did as well as any other SPU team has ever done at the UW," says SBGE Associate Dean Denise Daniels. "Given that they were the only team in the final round of the UW competition made up of exclusively undergrads, it is quite a positive commentary on them."
The team obviously impressed judges with their NIA (Neurological Impulse Actuator) wheelchair, which uses gaming technology to enable users to control movement of their wheelchair. The application could represent a huge advantage for quadriplegics with limited mobility.