Tempe, Arizona, USA
Students from the College of Engineering, Arizona State University have won the million-dollar XPRIZE Next-Gen Mask Challenge to redesign the face masks used to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by making them more comfortable, functional and affordable.
XPRIZE is a nonprofit organization that uses global competitions to crowdsource solutions to some
of the world’s biggest challenges. The contest is sponsored by Marc Benioff, CEO and co-founder
of Salesforce, and Jim Cramer, the host of “Mad Money” on CNBC.
According to the University, the contest drew nearly 1,000 entries from young innovators in more
than 70 countries around the world. The ASU team made the top five in early December and won
the grand prize.
“It hasn’t been about money or even recognition for this team,” said ASU team leader Nikhil Dave.
“It’s been about doing what we can to impact our communities and to solve pressing challenges as
they arise.”
The contest invited young adults ages 15 to 24 from around the world to shift the cultural perspective around mask-wearing behavior by developing the next generation of surgical-grade consumer masks.
The biggest problem the ASU team cracked was masks fogging up eyeglasses, ASU said.
Their Floemask features a bifurcated chamber design in which air exhaled from the nose is kept in a separate chamber from the face and mouth. Your face stays cooler, the air you breathe is fresher, and the flow of air stays away from glasses where it would otherwise cause fogging.
“We went through several design iterations, but trying to create something that doesn’t fog your glasses but doesn’t leave hot air on the face is not an easy task for sure,” Dave said. “But I think the other thing is to ensure that whatever we’re creating also has to be breathable, but also maintain the filtration efficiency needed to be an effective mask and preventing any sort of contagious pathogen.”
The mask was also designed to lift up easily for eating and drinking.
“I am incredibly proud of our students,” said the University of Arizona, College of Engineering lab’s executive director, Mark A. Naufel.
“These remarkable students competed against thousands of other teams internationally, knowing that they could contribute novel ideas for a unique mask, designed to resolve issues that they had personally experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In addition to Dave, a student regent on the Arizona Board of Regents and an undergraduate earning a double major in neuroscience and innovation in society, the Luminosity Lab team includes John Patterson, a graduate electrical engineering student; Jerina Gabriel, an undergraduate graphic design student; Katie Pascavis, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student; and Tarun Suresh, a graduate industrial engineering student.
ASU student team’s fog-free mask design
Designers: Arizona State University
Client: XPRIZE
