For the sixth year in a row, Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering(opens in new window) joined forces with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Covestro and Bauer Hockey to make ice hockey safer. The annual make-a-thon, Rethink the Rink(opens in new window), offers students the opportunity to lend their brainpower and creativity to innovating new technology in the sport.
This year students developed shot blocker equipment to protect players’ lower legs and ankles from opposing teams’ shots. Despite how often injuries occur when players use their skates to deflect the puck, there is no standard shot blocker equipment.
Over the course of a week, CMU engineering students developed and tested basic prototypes in the school’s makerspace with input from hockey professionals from the Penguins and materials experts from Covestro. Their challenge was to…