team open sesame won first place in the overall competition they chose to create a solution to opening doors hands-free their functioning prototype used voice commands from a phone to unlatch open and close the door william smith a junior manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology major had heard that doors are the biggest problem for those with disabilities he had considered each need statement but made his decision when he discovered one about hands-free freshman robert myers who had recently injured his knee in a skiing accident was drawn to participate in the event because the theme of assistive technology was applicable to his current situation and gave him unique insight into what its like to live with a disability team capcha won second place for their fully functional real-time captioning system as an app their inspiration came from personal experience we often saw that when we attended different conferences and events that it is hard to listen to what is going on especially if you are sitting in the back said shubham sarwate a computer engineering graduate student we thought ‘what would happen if a person with a hearing impairment goes to this conference the team was very passionate about their work and saw a growing interest in mentors as they assisted throughout the weekend if we can bring this to the market this will not only benefit people with a hearing disability but every one of us said sarwate taking third place was team carlisle with yourday a task management system for users with cognitive disorders which integrated a wearable monitoring device with aws cloud software unusual for aggies invent an honorable mention award was given to team third eye for their wearable device that vibrates as a person gets closer to a pathway obstruction using camera recognition software mentors assisting throughout the weekend ranged from those with vision impairments to those who work to make accessibility a priority on a daily basis debra dandridge accessibility coordinator with texas a&m engineering information technology guided students using her work background as a resource technology lends to a more inclusive society said dandridge if i went by a group of people using sign language i cant understand or engage that group with some of the technology these groups are proposing we have overcome that barrier the participants from team open sesame all found value in the competition and said the prize of the weekend wasnt a winning idea but a winning team to call on during the rest of their education here at texas a&m they recommended every engineering student participate saying that this is what engineering is all about theory is a large part of instruction and coursework but aggies invent allows students to work with a team and see a project come together aggies invent is particularly special said michael bayern a senior electrical engineering student when i was a freshman i did not know what i wanted to do--i didnt really know who i was--and when i did [aggies invent] it just helped me go into the right direction i feel like experiences like these help you make up your mind and figure out what youre really passionate about the top three teams received $1 000 $750 and $500 respectively the engineering entrepreneurship program also offers support for students to continue working on their projects along with a wide range of programs and events that help promote students understanding of business principles from an engineering perspective sponsors of the event were amazon web services (aws) trane residential heating and air - an ingersoll rand company texas a&m disability services and it divisions and texas a&m engineering it and accessibility it was incredible to watch students incorporate aws products and services to build real-world solutions that help individuals with disabilities and address accessibility challenges said andrew ko director of global education of amazon web services congratulations to aggies invent participants for an extraordinary showcase of entrepreneurship and maker-skills