The Student Inventors at UW–Madison
Undergraduates from every college build real products together. Mechanical, electrical and software sub-teams take client problems and their own ideas from problem to prototype.
Our mission
Our mission is to showcase the innovative potential of UW-Madison undergraduates and prove the necessity for interdisciplinary, project-based learning in our education system. We strive to bring together students from all colleges to foster a culture of meaningful collaboration and unity within the university.
About
Insight Wisconsin is the premier organization for Student Inventors on the University of Wisconsin, Madison campus. We provide members with the opportunity to work on real-world product designs as part of interdisciplinary teams with representation from almost every department on campus. With the help of mentors, resources, funding, and a structured program for meetings, teams take either client-projects or original ideas from problems to solutions. Our projects range from product designs and research tools, to business analytics and entrepreneurial efforts.
How it works
Every project team has three sub-teams: mechanical, electrical and software. Mentors, resources and funding move the team from problem to prototype.
Step 1Problem
A real problem, a real team
Clients bring a problem they need solved, or members pitch an idea of their own. At the kick-off, everyone picks a project with the project selection form.
Step 2Mesh
Three sub-teams, one machine
Mechanical, electrical and software sub-teams meet every week and build as one team, with students from almost every department on campus.
Step 3Prototype
From problem to prototype
Mentors, funding and the College of Engineering Makerspace in Wendt Commons, from 3D printers to Arduinos, turn the plan into something you can hold.
Featured projects
Health tech, plant experiments for astrobotany research and solar lamps for Kenya. Each project starts with someone's real problem.
3rd place, Engineering Expo 2026Health tech2022–2026
A wearable that helps people with limited arm strength lift: an affordable alternative to devices costing over $20k. MK I, then MK II, then a geared actuator with backpack straps and current sensing.
Health tech2024–2026
An affordable device for foot drop: IMU motion detection, a Bluetooth app with calibration mode, and constant-current stimulation with overcurrent protection.
Space2021–2022
A linear-rail camera system for plant experiments: a new UI, a touchscreen enclosure, an automatic filter switcher and a cable-pulley rail.
Space2019–2020
Turns petri dishes at 1 RPM so plants grow as if gravity were gone. Laser-cut MDF, 3D-printed bearing adapters, one stepper motor.
Community impact2019–2020
A stool that doubles as a press: body weight turns sawdust and farm waste into fuel that burns in place of wood.
Space2016–2017
Rotates on three axes to simulate microgravity for plant research on Arabidopsis thaliana.
Community impact2016–2017
Low-cost solar lamps plus a build workshop, deployed in Kenya in winter 2016–17.
Our story
Founded in January 2016 and open to members since fall 2016. Every number below is from our own record.
people at the first kick-off. 40 joined 8 project teams.
client projects in the first semester. 5 teams presented, 4 continued.
student design teams by May 2018.
place at the Engineering Expo, spring 2026 (LAD team).
sub-teams on every project: mechanical, electrical, software.
Get involved
Students build. Clients bring the problems. Mentors and sponsors keep the machine running.
Work on real-world projects with clients and mentors, or get funding for your own idea.
Researchers, clinicians and non-profits get a team of students who look at the problem from three directions at once.
We are a non-profit student organization: no paid consulting, and no guaranteed working prototype. We have yet to see a client not gain helpful, new insights.
Help undergraduates learn how real products get made. Join for one meeting, or follow one team through its project.
As a student organization at a non-profit university, we are completely dependent on sponsors.
Events
Every year runs the same cycle, from the kick-off to the final presentation, with a meeting every week in between.
Community
Kick-offs, late nights in the Makerspace, Expo demos and final presentations.
Watch the video on YouTube (opens in a new tab)
TEDx UW–Madison
Our first president took the idea behind Insight Wisconsin to the TEDx stage at UW–Madison.
Ethan Young, president 2016–2018
Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)Sponsors
As a student organization at a non-profit university, we are completely dependent on sponsors.
Funded in part by an ASM (Associated Students of Madison) viewpoint-neutral grant.
Contact
Students, clients, mentors and sponsors: write to us and the board will get back to you.
Thanks. Your message is with the Insight board, and we will get back to you.
