QL Plus team of student engineers from Trine University take top prize

Long Pants for Amputees Challenge Wins Technology Top Prize

Trine University Innovation 1 and Fifth Third Bank hosted an annual contest that provides cash prizes to top business and technology ideas. The top prize in the technology division went to the QL Plus team working on the Long Pants for Amputees Challenge, known as “RipStop.”  

Biomedical engineering seniors Colleen Bell, Lauren Beebe, Olivia Coyne, and Devon Kelly designed a device to prevent tears in pants worn by lower limb amputees.  Lower-limb amputees with prosthetic knees experience this problem often due to the edges of the prostheses getting tangled in the pants material.  

The team worked with Army veteran Robert Salamone on this device. Robert is an amputee and communicated with the team throughout the academic year. Recently, Robert visited Trine University and met with the team to test the device. He was happy to report that the device worked very well and that he experienced no loss of mobility in his prosthetic joint.

"Since I was a senior in high school, I couldn't wait to do my college senior design project and working on this project with Robert and QL Plus has certainly surpassed my expectations,” remarked Colleen Bell. “I have been able to meet amazing people, grow friendships, and create a device to help the amputee community. I am so honored to have been able to work on this project, and I truly hope our device, RipStop, will be able to improve the quality of people's lives."