Like Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs, many great inventors who made history started out as students. Ben Marggraf knows this all too well.

Marggraf, a senior biomedical engineering major, and Tim Meyer, a senior mechanical engineering major, founded the company Contact in spring of 2014.

The company’s mission statement is “Pushing the limits of computer interaction through personal, affordable and immersive experiences.”

Contact is reaching this mission through the development of its first product, a glove that allows the wearer to kinesthetically communicate with a computer.

“We were trying to recreate what the human body already does,” Marggraf said.

Marggraf came up with the idea for Contact while he was taking the class IDS 401 “What’s the Big Idea?: Technology Innovation.” One day, the students did an exercise in class and Marggraf saw an article about 3-D printing. His pitch involved a glove that could be used with a 3-D printer.

Marggraf, who works at the MakerSpace, said he is currently developing the glove to work with 3-D modeling by allowing users to kinesthetically manipulate their creations with the computer, instead of just using a 2-D visual.

“It’s really confusing to manipulate that space,” Marggraf explained, referring to the current way the 3-D modeling process works. “If you’re able to reach out, grab it and spin it around, it makes more sense.”

But Marggraf said the potential uses for the glove go beyond aiding 3-D modeling. The glove can be used in any industry that requires people to communicate with computers — video games, robotic surgery and military training are just a few of these industries.

In the future, Marggraf hopes to expand Contact to a greater number of products involving communication with computers. He imagines there will eventually be a way for people to walk through a virtual reality.

“I’ve kind of learned that anything that you want to do, you can actually go out and do it. It just takes trying,” Marggraf said. “Now I’ve been able to take an idea, think about it and make it into something.”

Published on October 20, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Alex: aerdekia@syr.edu