Prices for indoor navigation aid and alternative generation of ammonia

Two diploma theses that were written in the bionics branch of the HTL Braunau have again been awarded – this time at the VWA-MINT prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, each with prize money of 500 euros. Together with Peter Endl, Sarah Dreiblmeier developed the “Pathfinder” app, which is intended to enable people with limited mobility to approach their destination indoors in a targeted manner and, above all, quickly – without taking the wrong path and turning back must.

Outdoors, many people are already navigating with GPS, indoors this is still relatively unknown, according to the graduates. For people who are restricted in their movement, indoor navigation is a great help, for example to find their way around official buildings right from the start. The app of the two graduates, which was recently also named UNIKAT by the Austrian Disability Council, increases the quality of life of the users.

With their diploma project “Amon – Ammonia production from modified microorganisms”, Alina Neuleitner and Christian Eberherr questioned the traditional production of ammonia and found a more sustainable option by genetically modifying cyanobacteria in such a way that they excrete ammonia from the cell.

To do this, the young researchers carried out, among other things, mutagenesis and examined the increase in ammonia production in the cells. The project, which has now received another award, has already won the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences competition in the “Engineering” category.

The graduates received the VWA-MINT prize of 500 euros each in the ballroom of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The submitted diploma theses, which had to be rated “very good”, were judged according to criteria such as originality, clarity of the research question, comprehensibility of the results and formal goals.