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For the first time since 2019, Florida Tech students were able to showcase their design projects in person.

Due to COVID-19, the last two competitions were virtual.

Student teams and their 125 engineering and science ideas were on display for the competition.

The displayed innovation can lead to big opportunities.

"Some people come in here; they'll get jobs right off the bat. You'll have someone here hand them a resume and they'll say, ‘I love what you did. This will be great for my company. Let's chat after this,’" Peter Zappala of Florida Tech said.

With the rapid growth of the space industry in Brevard and a specialty at the school, space flight is front and center.

For projects such as Oasis, the student team claims it will help make deep-space flight more feasible for humans.

"It's a long-term permanent installation that rotates. Essentially, it's a space catapult. It flings things into a higher orbit — thus reducing chemical fuel needed and all rockets can be a lot smaller to get into orbit," Connor Geren, a Florida Tech senior, said.

A robotic arm, called BioBot, can mimic the motions of a doctor through sensors attached to the arm muscles, which could be critical during a pandemic.

“We can have the doctor's team in a room, performing an autopsy in another room. They will be able to do the autopsy, collect any samples and analyze that safely," Wilner Gomes Viana, another Florida Tech senior, said.

Innovations on display will contribute to a safer planet and help explore other planets as well.

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