Around the world there are different competitions created to promote new talent and creative ideas. Many of them function as a platform to identify possible solutions to everyday problems. The winners of the James Dyson Award 2021 were announced today. Created in the UK, it has awarded nearly £ 1 million in prizes to more than 250 promising inventions by young engineers and scientists from 28 countries across the globe. world.
The most attractive thing about these awards is that each contestant must focus on a specific problem. From there you must propose a solution through a project or device. Although there are normally only two winners, this time three were awarded due to the high number of projects received.
International Winner – HOPES, designed by Kelu Yu, Si Li and David Lee, students at the National University of Singapore
The problem
The international winner of the James Dyson Award 2021 was inspired by the diagnosis of glaucoma from the father of one of the inventors, Kelu. After witnessing her discomfort and multiple visits to the hospital, she realized that there is a global need for a less invasive and more accessible method of controlling intraocular pressure (IOP), as glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness. in the world.
In Mexico, more than 1.5 million people have glaucoma. Because this disease is largely symptomless, it is also known as the “silent thief of sight.” There is no cure, but if diagnosed and treated early, blindness can be prevented.
Today, regular IOP monitoring is an essential tool to help clinicians determine long-term treatment plans and goals. There is a demand for safe, accurate, low-cost, home-use IOP measurement devices to improve the patient experience.
The solution
HOPES (Home eye Pressure E-skin Sensor) is a portable biomedical device that allows IOP testing at home without pain and at low cost. Thanks to patent-pending sensor technology and artificial intelligence, HOPES is a convenient device for users to frequently self-monitor their IOP.
After creating a profile in the application, the user puts on the HOPES glove with the sensor placed on the fingertip, pressing against the center of the eyelid. The fingertip employs a unique sensor architecture that captures dynamic pressure information from the user’s eye with millisecond precision. The captured signals are processed by machine learning algorithms to continuously and accurately calculate the user’s IOP.
Data is transmitted via Bluetooth to paired devices or uploaded to the cloud so that clinicians can access it remotely. The app provides users with an easy-to-read measurement history and direct links to healthcare systems, allowing them to seek medical help to minimize future symptoms.
Winner, Sustainability Category – Plastic Scanner, Invented by Jerry de Vos, Graduate in Industrial and Product Design from Tu Delft, The Netherlands
The problem
Every day, around 8 million pieces of plastic reach our oceans, disturbing habitats and entering food chains.
With the different recycling efforts globally, it is necessary to introduce different initiatives that better democratize the process, making recycling easier and more accessible for everyone.
The solution
Plastic Scanner is a handheld device that, when held against plastic, will tell the user what materials it is made of, using infrared light to detect plastic components.
The Plastic Scanner uses discrete infrared light to detect plastic types, a new and low-cost approach to traditional infrared spectroscopy. In addition, the scanner is open source hardware, so anyone can assemble the printed circuit board and integrate the electronics into a portable device.
Medical Winner – REACT, Invented by Joseph Bentley, Graduated in Product Design and Technology from Loughborough University, UK
The problem
Knife crime is a problem in many countries around the world and last year, rates increased on almost every continent, especially in countries with strict firearm laws.
The average waiting time for an ambulance in Mexico City exceeds two hours, and yet it can only take five minutes for someone to bleed to death.
The solution
The REACT (Rapid Emergency Actuating Tamponade) device aims to reduce catastrophic blood loss from a stab wound. The current advice for treating stabbing is to never remove the sharp object from the wound while it is still in place, as the object is applying internal pressure to the wound site, while filling the cavity and preventing hemorrhage.
The 2021 James Dyson Award-winning Joseph’s concept is based on the same principle: medical grade implantable silicone balloon packing would be inserted into the wound tract by a rescuer. Squeezing the balloon trigger initiates the automatic inflation sequence, and the tamponade is inflated to a pressure defined based on the wound location to attempt to stop the bleeding.