Smart Sensors In Rwanda Warn Engineers In Oregon When Water Pumps Fail

Sensors are being used in everything from remotely monitoring cracks in bridges to playing with your pet while you’re at work. So why not apply them to improving the lives of struggling people in under-developed countries by, say,  providing access to safe drinking water and cooking equipment? Consider SweetSense Inc. A recent spinoff from Portland State University, it uses technology developed by Evan Thomas, an engineering assistant professor who heads the university’s   SWEETLab (Sustainable Water, Energy, and Environmental Technologies Laboratory).  Engineers there work on such household and community-scale innovations as gravity water filters and clean-burning stoves for use in Rwanda, Kenya, Indonesia, Haiti and other places.  Specifically, the lab developed a sensor technology to improve the performance of water pumps, cook stoves and other devices. Then the university created a social enterprise to sell and install it. Just a few weeks ago, it launched an effort to install 200 remote sensors on water pumps in Rwandan villages.