Promising device snags young inventors coveted spo...( The IShow is for young inventors wha...)

The IShow is for young inventors what "American Idol" is for young performers, and a pair of local researchers has won a coveted spot in the IShow finale in Palm Desert, Calif., this weekend.

If their unique health-monitoring device wins at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Innovation Showcase, also known as the IShow, on Sunday, University of Houston MBA student Nithin Rajan and Steve Xu, who both work at the Abramson Center for the Future of Health in the Texas Medical Center, could receive up to $10,000 in seed funding from ASME. And that's just the beginning.

All finalists get to pitch their inventions to venture capitalists and "angel investors" who will be in attendance to get their hands on the next big thing.

"The IShow is known for picking the cream of the crop. We know we're facing stiff competition. But, we're passionate about our design, our team and our company moving forward," said Xu. "I can tell you this: We're going to Palm Desert to win."

Though the team's device looks a lot like a standard bathroom scale connected to a bicycle-like handlebar, it is actually a heavy-duty piece of technology meant to offer congestive heart failure patients both peace of mind and significant health-care costs savings.

"Nithan and Steve are developing a technology that is very useful medically, will benefit a large group of patients, and is simple for people to use," said Dr. Cliff Dacso, director of the Abramson Center, the John S. Dunn Sr. Research Chair in General Internal Medicine at The Methodist Hospital, and professor at UH's College of Technology. "Such elegance and purpose of design are rare and tend to be highly sought by investors."

The device, known as the BlueScale, simultaneously records a variety of patient information, including weight, heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac output, in a mere 10 seconds. When combined, those daily measurements offer a good picture of the health o
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