I hate to begin with a saying that we all know all too well, but it seems that ideas really do start here at Waterloo. Not only that, but the University has a lot to offer in terms of transforming those ideas into the basis of successful start-up companies, as so many Waterloo alumni have done before. One such group of four Nanotechnology and Mechatronics Engineering graduates founded Voltera, a start-up that is bound to revolutionize the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) industry with its product, the Voltera V-One. And they even have the James Dyson award to prove it.
Traditionally, circuit designers would design their circuits, then send the schematic off to a printing company that could print the boards for them. The board would then come back in a couple of weeks, ready to be tested by the designer. Imagine the frustration (and not to mention the cost) of discovering the board you’ve been waiting for for several weeks doesn’t do what you expect it to. Voltera plans to change all that: the Voltera V-One, essentially a 3D printer for circuit boards, allows a PCB to be created in minutes, drastically reducing the time needed to design and test PCBs. In addition, it is a solder paste dispenser, allowing designers to quickly and easily add components to their new boards.
The James Dyson award, on the other hand, is an international award that “celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers.” It is awarded by the James Dyson Foundation, whose illustrious founder has his own fair share of inventions under his belt, including the Dyson Airblade (a hand dryer now ubiquitous in highway rest-stops across Ontario) and a whole array of different vacuum cleaners. The award itself offers $3,500 USD to national winners, $7,500 to international runners-up, and $45,000 to the winner as well as $7,500 to their school.
It seems appropriate for Voltera to win the James Dyson award; as Dyson himself put it, “[Voltera’s] solution makes prototyping electronics easier and more accessible – particularly to students and small businesses. But it also has the potential to inspire many more budding engineers. Something I am very passionate about indeed.” Runners-up for the award include Wei-Lun Huang, creator of Green Fairy, which is a system of biodegradable cell beads that introduce microorganisms to polluted water to consume the nutrients needed for certain harmful types of algae to grow; as well as Cathal Redmond, creator of Express Dive, an incredibly small, light, and inexpensive improvement on scuba gear.
This win comes at the perfect time for Alroy Almeida, Katarina Ilic, James Pickard and Jesús Zozaya, the four co-founders of Voltera. As Zozaya puts it, “We’re at a critical point with Voltera. […] The $45,000 we’ve been awarded as winners of the James Dyson Award will help us to ramp up production and enhance testing.” Dean of Engineering Pearl Sullivan is also very proud of her students, saying that, “It is an excellent example of what our students are capable of when they graduate from Waterloo Engineering. […] The future of technology innovation in Canada lies within brilliant teams like Voltera.” Voltera has set the bar high; now it’s up to current and future Waterloo students to set the bar even higher.
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