Pressure sores on wheelchair users or bedridden patients can be prevented through a new technology that lets them see what they can’t feel. XSENSOR Technology Corporation of Calgary, has developed a new pressure imaging system that uses transducers to translate pressure into an electrical reading in real-time. Patients and caregivers can see the pressure points and take action to before dangerous sores develop on the patient. In addition to the medical field, the thin, flexible sensors have been used in other industries, in tire treads, automobile seats, and backpacks, just to name a few applications.

Eating cookies to lower cholesterol isn’t just a dieter’s fantasy, thanks to researchers at the University of Alberta. Dr. Feral Temelli and Dr. Thava Vasanthan have created a soluble-fibre powder concentrate called Viscofibre from the beta-glucan found in grains such as barley and oats. Viscofibre can be added to any food product, even cookies and fudge bars, to lower cholesterol or to regulate sugar absorption. Viscofibre is processed and marketed by Edmonton’s Cevena Bioproducts Inc. (Drs. Feral Temelli and Thava Vasanthan won the 2005 ASTech award for Agricultural Science)

The overhead canopies at Calgary’s Shawnessy LRT (Light Rail Transit) station may look like steel, but they are actually a new type of concrete called Ductal—the world’s first application using concrete in this way. Developed in 2001 by Lafarge North America Inc., Ductal uses plastic or metal fibres to create a thin flexible concrete that does not require metal rebar, and is 10 times stronger than regular concrete.

A Calgary charity is helping thousands of people in the world’s poorest regions to produce safe, clean drinking. The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST), led by President and CEO Camille Dow Baker, has spear-headed the mass distribution of biosand concrete filter technology by teaching people from developing countries how to make the filters. As a result of CAWST’s teacher-training sessions, more than 200,000 biosand concrete filters and several large-scale commercial filters are currently being used in 36 countries around the world. Developed by Dr. David Manz, this technology uses a miniature slow sand filter system to clean debris, bacteria, viruses and parasites from the dirtiest water, without the need for maintenance or chemical additives.

Alternative energy production is being given a “step up” by a power inverter developed by a Calgary’s Sustainable Energy Technologies. Their patented ‘pulse step’ electronic technology is the world’s first ‘universal’ inverter having the capability to interface with all types of alternative energy sources and every type of input/output current required by many different energy companies. With a single step, the inverter reliably converts the low-quality, low-voltage direct current output from alternative energy sources into the high-voltage, high-quality alternating current required by existing power-grid infrastructures and utility companies.

Teaching robots to think independently is the goal of Dr. Michael Bowling, an assistant professor in the department of computing sciences at the University of Alberta. At 29, Bowling is a world-class researcher in artificial intelligence and machine learning, with a specialty in multi-agent learning. Through ‘robot soccer’, Bowling is teaching robots how to adapt, interact with other robots or humans, and actually learn from experience, to become truly independent thinking machines.