Photos: Atlas Powered Rope Ascender

Nathan Ball, a 23-year-old MIT graduate student, hangs over a swimming pool with his Atlas Powered Rope Ascender. The device can pull a firefighter or other emergency worker weighed down with gear up a 30-story building in about 30 seconds. The invention nabbed Ball the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT prize for student invention.

Photo by Lemelson-MIT Foundation