Facebook
LinkedIn
TwitterQUT Engineering students up to the Challenge
In the future, people with vision impairment or blindness may be able to read the internet and ebooks and cook safely with ease while glasses with inbuilt sensors could open doors for quadriplegics.
That’s if inventions currently being developed by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) design, business, health, science and engineering students come to fruition.
The inventions are just three of nine shortlisted for the QUT Engineering for Humanity Challenge.
The Challenge involves teams of students designing innovative products to assist people with a disability to be independent and perform daily life activities.
QUT Deputy Dean of Built Environment and Engineering, Professor Doug Hargreaves said devices such as those being invented by the students were often the first step towards improving or changing the lives of the elderly and people with a disability.
“The judging panel has been really impressed with the calibre and creativity of the inventions to date and eagerly await final designs for judging,” Professor Hargreaves said.
The nine inventions in the final judging round include:
- C:ite – head and footwear devices which alert people with vision impairment and others to objects, similar to the concept used in vehicles to assist reverse parking.
- Cooking utensils – a line of safe-to-use cooking utensils with tangible sliding interfaces combined with manual mechanisms. The line will initially comprise an external cook top, measuring cup, measuring spoon, scale, and pots and pans.
- FreeRoam – a cane that alerts a person with vision impairment to objects in close proximity, such as gutters. It will also incorporate elements to make the user more visible to others.
- Handi Re-Lever – a multi-use door and handle aid designed specifically for people with arthritis in the fingers, hands and wrists. It is an adjustable lever-like design which aims to assist with day-to-day activities such as the release of doors, jars, bottles and taps.
- Slimpie– a streamlined insulin pump for people with type 1 diabetes, that is more convenient than other currently available models, and likely to appeal more to women.
- Mi-IZ (My Eyes) – an inexpensive wearable or hand-held device with GPS tagging which aims to help mobility of people with vision impairment by enabling them to develop obstacle maps before they become clinically blind. The electronic device alerts a user to obstacles and could be married with public transport information to alert users to their bus/train stations. It’s expected the device will supplement the use of guide dogs and white canes and provide the user with more confidence to get out-and-about.
- Sensor Glasses – glasses with integrated sensors which interpret eye and facial muscles to enable a wearer to undertake a range of activities including driving a wheelchair, navigating computer programs including games, opening electronic doors and using lifts. The fashion-shaped glasses idea aims to enable people paralysed from the neck down to enjoy more independence, and could connect to various operating systems via cable or wireless technology.
- TextoBraille – a glove device to assist people with vision impairment to explore and read the Internet, e-news and e-books by translating on-screen text to Braille and simulating its physical sensation under the user’s finger.
Your-Brisbane.org – an easy-to-navigate lifestyle and entertainment website directory which brings together a range of specific options to make it easier for Brisbane people with a disability and their families to participate more readily in a broad range of community activities. Where appropriate, the website would incorporate audio instructions for people with visual impairment.
Finalists will submit their innovative ideas today (October 17) for the Humanitarian Engineering Prize worth $10,000, plus a further $9,500 in prize money will be up for grabs. The winners will be announced on November 4.
The Engineering for Humanity Challenge is an initiative of QUT and is supported by various QUT faculties and divisions, qutbluebox, Engineers Australia, LifeTec, Cerebral Palsy League, Endeavour Foundation, Queensland Government - Disability Community Care Services, and the Australian Institute of Commercialisation.
For further information visit www.qut.edu.au/engineering-challenge
Media contact: Rose Trapnell, QUT media officer, 07 3138 2999 or rose.trapnell@qut.edu.au
Be the first to comment on QUT Engineering students up to the Challenge