GOLDEN —In a lab at the Colorado School of Mines, tiny motors whirred, a conveyor system sent small platforms speeding along its tracks and robot arms twisted and turned.
Surrounded by computers, circuit boards and mechanical parts, the students talked about their projects — the next generation of robotics with the potential to change fields ranging from medicine to the battlefield.
Many of the students were fine-tuning years of work to showcase at the first JeffCo Innovation Faire to be held Sept. 12 and 13 on the campus of Warren Tech.
The event will highlight the newest innovations coming out of the area’s labs, classrooms and tech companies, with the goal of fostering networking opportunities and promoting Jefferson County as a great place to do business, said Deborah Deal-Blackwell, the fair chair and CEO of IX Power Foundation.
“There is no county-wide science fair right now, and there never has been,” Deal-Blackwell said. “We have a lot of resources and technology in Jeffco but no central venue or event that brings together all the schools and technology businesses that are secretly hiding out in the county.”
The free event will have more than 75 exhibitors showing off their newest inventions, live demonstrations, seminars, competitions across different categories, food, music and activities for kids.
Attendees can test drive commercial electric cars, hear two lectures from NASA scientists, see how law enforcement uses unmanned drones and meet U.S. Army technologists showing off the latest in modern warfare.
In the Mines classroom last week, mechanical engineering doctoral candidate Songpo Li, 27, gave a quick demonstration of his invention: a gaze-driven automated laparoscopy robot. Staring intently at a computer monitor, Li controlled a robotic arm through a minor surgery on a dummy using nothing but scanned eye movements.
By using eye movement, hands are free to manipulate joysticks to control other robotic hardware, Li said.
“This has many applications, and one of them is doctors can operate solo and remotely on the wounded during battlefield situations,” he added.
Across the room, his classmates worked on robots that could autonomously enter dangerous environments such as those with high levels of radiation or toxic chemicals, or another project using robotics to assist people in regaining lost motor function.
Deal-Blackwell sees great innovations, research and startup ideas coming out of Jefferson County but no support network to foster that environment. She hopes to change that with a monthly Innovators Workshop she kickstarted along with the Innovation Faire.
“Some of these start-ups and other companies will come up with a great business idea or new technology and leave,” Deal-Blackwell said. “We want to showcase Jeffco so people will not take their great ideas and startups and go elsewhere with them.”
A five-year plan to create 7,500 jobs in Jeffco spurred in part by technology transfer and targeting the local aerospace, energy, bioscience and aviation industries made it a natural fit for the Jeffco Economic Development Corporation to sponsor the Innovation Faire, said economic development specialist Tom Livingston.
“This is a good opportunity to help identify, create and explain the importance of STEM environments that will support high-tech in Jeffco,” Livingston said. “Jeffco kids getting that education today become our workforce and entrepreneurs for the future.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abriggs
Jeffco innovation faire
When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 12-13
Where: Warren Tech campus, 13300 W. Second Place, Lakewood
Cost: Free
Info: coloradoinnovator.org or 303 993-7473
