The exhibition titled "Past, Present and Future", displayed prototype technologies that current IDE students have developed as part of an intensive four week module.

The module is part of the Rio Tinto Sports Innovation Challenge, inspired by the London 2012 Paralympics, which aims to harness the creativity of Imperial's students in order to make sports more accessible to people with disabilities by improving the sporting and training equipment available to them.

"This exhibition represents the past, present and future of IDE research and development," said professor Peter Childs, the IDE joint course director from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

"We are extremely proud of our current students, who have developed some great technologies that may help to make sports more inclusive for spectators and people living with disabilities.

"We are also proud of our alumni, many of whom have gone on develop innovative spinout companies based on their work while here at the College.

"We want to celebrate this course and the students and academics that have made this success possible and there was no better way than showcasing these achievements in the College's Norman Foster designed grand entrance."

Alumni of the IDE double masters course, which is a joint collaboration between Imperial and the Royal College of Art, are also coming back to the College to showcase the spinout companies that evolved from technologies they developed while on the course.

The alumni returning to College are part of a cohort of 500 graduates from the course, which has spawned more than ten spinout companies and fostered nearly 20 industrial collaborations with companies such as Nokia, Ford, Vodafone, Coutts Bank and Sony.

A device that enables the user to move, aim and fire a gun mechanism, using just head and mouth movements is an example of one of the technologies developed by IDE students.

Another example is a prototype technology for involving spectators more in the game of goal ball – a Paralympic sport involving blind folded teams competing against one another to hit a ball into a goal at either end of the court.

Currently, spectators have to remain silent to enable players to locate a ball, which has a bell inside it.

IDE students, Yuta Sugawara (pictured top left), Jenny Shih (pictured top right) and Tim Boukley have developed sensors (pictured) that can be worn by players, wirelessly transmitting their vital signs such as heart beat and breathing to audio devices, which are worn by spectators to take them closer to the action on the court.

Click here to watch IDE students demonstrate their prototype devices and explain how they could be used to improve the way that people play and participate in sports.

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