Print

User Rating: 5 / 5

Star ActiveStar ActiveStar ActiveStar ActiveStar Active
 

A prototype inflatable incubator for prematurely-born babies has been picked as the international winner of this year's James Dyson Award. Mom costs a fraction of the price to make than commonly-used alternatives. The project's inventor - Loughborough University graduate James Roberts - said he hoped the final product would be used in the developing world. One expert said it should be a good stand-in so long as the babies using it were not too premature.

Awards_Dyson_Incubator_Prototype

Mr Roberts said that he had begun work on Mom as part of a final year project inspired by a TV documentary. "I was watching a Panorama programme on BBC about Syrian refugees, and they had a segment about how there are loads of premature kids dying because of the stresses of war and specifically the lack of incubators out there and the infrastructure to support them," he recalled. "I thought there has to be a way to solve that." He added that the £30,000 award meant that he could continue work on the machine, which he now hopes to bring to market by 2017.

 

Awards_Dyson_Incubator_w_baby

The device is designed to be delivered as flat-packed parts that are assembled at their destination. At its heart is a sheet of plastic containing inflatable transparent panels that are blown up manually and then heated by a ceramic element. This wraps around the interior of the unit to keep a newborn warm.

"When it's opened it won't collapse in on the child and will maintain its shape," Mr Roberts stressed. An Arduino computer is used to keep the temperature stable, control humidification, and manage a phototherapy lamp that can be used to treat jaundice, as well as sound an alarm.  The electronic components are designed to use as little power as possible and can be run off a car battery for more than 24 hours when mains electricity is not available. The modular design of the kit allows damaged parts to be replaced without compromising the whole unit. And after the child is taken out of the incubator, it can be collapsed and the plastic sheet sterilised so that Mom can be easily transported for re-use elsewhere. "Normally with incubators it costs loads to get them anywhere because you need huge boxes to put them in, and that can cost a lot to put on a flight," Mr Roberts said. "This one can go in a care packages already used for refugee camps."

Awards_Dyson_Incubator

Mom incubator The incubator can be powered by a car battery for more than a day at a time. He estimated that the current prototype would cost about £250 to manufacture, and suggested it would offer a similar level of performance to modern systems that cost £30,000. "In resource-poor settings, the cold is one of the biggest killers of babies that are born slightly premature," said Dr Martin Ward Platt, a consultant paediatrician at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. "And in a refugee camp, where it may be necessary to separate a baby from her mother, this provides a fantastically elegant and cheap solution." Dr Platt added that normal hospital incubators cost so much because they were designed to cope with babies born with as little as a seventh of the normal birth weight, who would need intensive care for weeks or even months - which Mom is not designed for. But, the doctor said, doing away with some of the "bells and whistles" in order to "do the basics very well" made sense in situations where expensive kit was not available.

 

Awards_Dyson_Bump_Mark

Bump Mark (UK)

Current expiration dates are not always accurate - for example they do not take account of the fact that the meat, juice or vegetables inside might not have been refrigerated properly. Bump Mark tackles the problem by allowing the producer to set the gelatine to decay at the same rate as the package's contents - the higher the concentration, the longer it takes to turn from a solid into a liquid.  Once the gelatine has changed state, bumps built into the plastic underneath can be felt, providing a tactile safety check.

 

Awards_Dyson_Bees

Mima (Germany)

Kit to inspect a beehive without having to open it up. The measuring instrument is inserted into the hive, and then a pneumatic system allows the apiarist to select a single bee, which can be examined in isolation at length. The idea is that this minimises disruption to the hive's climate, reducing the risk that the other insects will stop work.  The creators suggest Mima could be used to understand the increase in bee colony collapses.

 

Awards_Dyson_Bio_Printer

PrintAlive BioPrinter (Canada)

A device to 3D print complex structures that mimic the epidermal and dermal layers of human skin. These can be used to close the wounds of severe burn victims in order to help them recover. The machine works by placing two types of human cell - keratinocytes and fibroblasts - layer-by-layer into a hydrogel to create the desired patterns. The designers say early tests suggest that the resulting 3D-printed "skin" can be used to reduce the amount of time doctors need to wait before attempting to graft on real skin taken from a different part of the victim's body.

 

Awards_Dyson_Water_Heater

Miito (Netherlands)

A device that heats liquid in a glass or other container, helping reduce wastage and cleaning. The product consists of an induction base that plugs into the mains, which heats a rod placed inside the vessel. Miito does not have an on/off button - instead it powers down when the base detects that the rod is not present or that the liquid has boiled.

 

Awards_Dyson_Backpack_fastening

Caturix (Switzerland)

A new fastening mechanism for backpacks that is designed to be safer than existing alternatives for mountaineers. The system places the straps of the bag into a cross, with a buckle at the centre that can be split to allow the bag to be taken off with just one hand. The idea is to minimise the risk involved in unpacking food, drink and emergency equipment when the climber is at a precarious spot.

 

Awards_Dyson_Solari

Solari (Italy)

Offering an alternative to barbeque and camping stoves, Solari promises to be an eco-friendly way to cook food outdoors. The portable device is designed to use solar power to heat meals for between four to six people within a few hours. It works by letting in light through its transparent lid, which then passes through a lens that directs it around an aluminium shell. The design also incorporates a temperature gauge that transmits information about the food's progress to a smartphone app.

 

Awards_Dyson_Wheelchair

Qolo (Japan)

A vehicle for people with disabled lower limbs that allows them to move while both sitting down and standing up, and to move between the two positions.

Rather than rely on expensive and heavy motors, the machine uses the person's upper body motion to transfer them from one position to the other. Qolo also uses a similar mechanism to help them move location: by tilting their upper-body forward they start travelling forward, and if they twist to one side the chair turns that way.

 

Awards_Dyson_hand_Washer

TipTapTop (France)

A tap gadget designed to encourage children to wash their hands, which also saves water in the process. TipTapTop contains an infrared sensor that starts the water flow when it detects a hand underneath and also triggers a "jolly" music jingle. When the child removes their hands to add soap, the water stops but the music continues playing to remind them they need to follow up the initial rinse. Only after they have returned their hands, wiped off the soap and removed them again to dry their skin will the music and water switch off, ending the cycle.

 

Awards_Dyson_Termometer_w_light

Oralux (Austria)

A device that combines a doctor's tongue stick with a light source. The light is automatically switched on by attaching a disposable, sterile stick to the handle, and is deactivated when the stick is subsequently discarded. The idea is that Oralux frees up one of the doctor's hands and allows them to avoid touching the stick while it is in use.

 

Awards_Dyson_Uplifts

Uplift (US)

A personal shopping trolley that can be collapsed and loaded into a car's boot without having to remove the goods carried inside. Uplift's aluminium frame helps it remain lightweight, while its bright silicone handles both protect the kit and make the owner more visible. The designer says it would be targeted at aging adults.

 

Awadrs_Dyson_Vaccinations

Vax ID (Belgium)

A device intended to make it easier to administer vaccinations to a specific layer of skin. The designers say medical staff often struggle to find the right depth and angle when using existing syringes to carry out intradermal vaccinations, which are less painful and can obtain an improved immune response when compared to intramuscular or subcutaneous injections. After Vax ID's plunger is used to deliver a dose of antigens, the needle returns to the body of the device and cannot be reused. This reduces the risk of needlestick injuries to staff, and prevents medics transmitting diseases from one patient to another.

 

awards_dyson_Remora

Remora (Spain)

A biodegradable fishing net system.An additive added to the net causes it to start breaking apart after four years, to address the problem of abandoned "ghost nets" that pose a threat to the marine environment. Remora also incorporates RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags. These are scanned when the net is retrieved so that the fishermen can get an instant report from an associated app about whether parts have ripped off. This tells them if they need to search the surrounding sea to find the lost parts.

 

Awards_Dyson_Hidroponic_System

Home Hydroponic System (Russia)

Five levels of LED-lit, water-and-nutrient-fed containers that provide a way to grow vegetables and fruits in the home or at schools. The wires and hoses are hidden inside the apparatus, which is intended to be visually pleasing so that it can be left out in view. The owner can opt to combine different parts of the Home Hydroponic System to suit how much space they have and the amount of produce they want to grow. The designers suggest that tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and herbs are some of the fresh produce that could be grown up to three times faster than in soil outdoors.

 

Awards_Dyson_Feeding_Tube

Nutria (Ireland)

A system to connect a feeding tube to a patient's face without using tape, which can become an irritant. Nutria also makes use of a terahertz radiation microchip to display the exact position of the tube inside the person's body on a smartphone app.  If the nurse or doctor who fits the patient with the apparatus takes a scan each time, software can then be used to highlight if any of the medics commonly fit the tube incorrectly.

powered by social2s