This week the National Inventors Hall of Fame announced the winners of the 2018 Collegiate Inventors Competition, which asks college students to demonstrate the future of innovation. We dig the competition because it focuses on actual, practical, real-world problem-solving objects. This year's Gold winner of Undergraduates came up with Rhino, a rotary hammer tool attachment for stonemasons.

The process of repointing (re-mortaring) bricks starts with joint-raking, i.e. removing the outer layer of mortar. This messy, time-consuming process can be done with a hammer and chisel, or an angle grinder if you want to make the work "exciting." Rhino makes the work far quicker and more accurate:

Rhino was developed by M.I.T. students Elizabeth Bianchini, Kyler Kocher, Ann McInroy and Sam Resnick, with faculty advisor Dr. Warren Seering. Congratulations to the winning team!