UMD News

Director of Public Relations:
Susan Beasy Latto, slatto@d.umn.edu
315 Darland Administration Bldg.
1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
(218) 726-8830 Cell: (218) 348-5688
Fax: (218) 726-7413

November 16, 2001

Contact:
Susan Beasy Latto, Director of Public Relations, (218)726-8830
David Wyrick, Assoc Professor and Head, Industrial Engineering Dept. (218) 726-7184

A four-member team of UMD Industrial Engineering students took first place in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Student Design Competition held November 11 in New York City. Under the supervision of David Wyrick, Associate Professor and Head of the UMD Department of Industrial Engineering, the students designed, built and demonstrated a fishing rod and reel controlled by simulated “sip and puff” technology that allows a quadriplegic person to accurately cast a fishing lure.

The student team includes:
Mike Anderson , Cloquet, MN
David Halverson, Waunakee, WI
Mike Lackore, Two Harbors, MN
Joe Higgins, Crystal Lake, MN

The UMD group was one of only 13 in the United States selected to participate in the international contest which included participants from India and Japan. UMD students previously won their regional competition representing a seven-state area.

The UMD student project was designed to meet the challenge of:

"design, build and demonstrate a fishing rod and reel controlled by simulated "sip and puff" technology that will allow a quadriplegic person to accurately cast a fishing lure. One person, solely through inputs from "momentary-on" switches, must control the device. The operator must cast a simulated lure and attempt to hit each of the targets. Two attempts at each target are allowed. The line connected to the lure must be retrieved by the reel after each cast. The contest is scored by taking the measurements between the lure and the target for each cast. The team with the lowest score wins.

"UMD PROJECT WEBSITE IS:
http://www.asme.org/students/Competitions/designcontest/index.html