TEMPE, AZ — A student team from Arizona State University beat out innovators from more than 70 countries to win a portion of a million-dollar prize for designing an anti-fog face mask.
The XPRIZE Next-Gen Mask Challenge gathered nearly 1,000 entries from young people working to create "more comfortable, functional and affordable" masks during the coronavirus pandemic.
ASU's Luminosity Lab worked to fix the issue of foggy lenses for glasses and mask wearers. It's also easy to lift up for eating and drinking, ASU says.
"Their Floemask features a bifurcated chamber design in which air exhaled from the nose is kept in a separate chamber from the face and mouth," ASU said in a statement. "Your face stays cooler, the air you breathe is fresher, and the flow of air stays away from glasses where it would otherwise cause fogging."
The ASU team won $500,000 of the million-dollar prize, and two additional teams are splitting the remainder.
ASU says they will be connected to rapid manufacturing opportunities in the United States to produce their new mask designs, which are reportedly ready for mass-scale creation.
The team members who won first place are Nikhil Dave, the team leader, student regent on the Arizona Board of Regents and an undergraduate earning a double major in neuroscience and innovation in society; John Patterson, a graduate electrical engineering student; Jerina Gabriel, an undergraduate graphic design student; Katie Pascavis, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student; and Tarun Suresh, a graduate industrial engineering student.
