Tag Archives: James Dyson Award

SmartHEAL sensor tells you if wound may be infected using RFID

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When you have a wound with a bandage, sometimes you have no idea if it’s healing or there’s a worse infection, unless you actually redress the bandage. Sometimes though, re-opening and then closing the bandage will cause the wound to be exposed to various elements and that might actually disrupt the healing process and may lead to the dreaded infection. What if there was a way for your wound to continue to be protected and at the same time, give you an idea if it’s actually healing.

Designers: Tomasz Raczyński, Dominik Baraniecki, Piotr Walter

The SmartHEAL sensor was designed by Ph.D. students from Warsaw University of Technology and it is able to measure the pH balance of a wound without having to open the bandage or dressing. It has an electronic pH sensor that is printed onto a bandage-like textile backing. It uses radio frequency identification or RFID to give you the data that you need. All you have to do is use a mobile device and pass it over the sensor and it can tell you if the pH levels are still okay or if it’s in danger of giving you an infection.

So basically, what you get is a wound dressing that has a screen-printed RFID sensor so there’s no need to charge anything or use any batteries. The bandage can be washed and stretched according to the size of the wound, and supposedly, it’s not easily breakable so it should be able to withstand things that your arm or leg or whatever part the dressing is on might encounter. It doesn’t say though if it’s water-proof so that may be something that they have to take note of.

The SmartHEAL sensor is the grand prize winner of the James Dyson Awards and so they’ll receive prize money that they can use for product development and clinical trials. They’re looking at 2025 as the year when they can actually get it out in the market since the product is pretty scalable and eventually affordable. This product will be especially useful for elderly people who are more susceptible to developing chronic wounds and infections.

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Orbit PC mouse gives your upper body an exercise to avoid strain injuries

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The computer mouse today may look a bit different compared to its first incarnation, but the fundamental design of this important input device hasn’t exactly changed over the decades. That, unfortunately, also means that the problems associated with this old design haven’t really disappeared either, especially those that cause physical injury over time. There has been a great deal of interest lately in redesigning the mouse to be more ergonomic, but not everyone agrees that changing the shape is enough. This design concept, for example, takes a very different approach to resolving the problem of repetitive strain injury or RSI, mostly by shifting the movement away from the arm and wrists and giving your upper body a workout instead.

Designer: Simon Hochleitner

The computer mouse and even the computer keyboard are very unnatural interfaces as far as our bodies are concerned. Especially with the mouse, the hand and the arm it’s attached to are forced into an unnatural position, whether it is in motion or at rest. The movements associated with prolonged and repeated use of the mouse eventually lead to what is sometimes called “mouse arm,” as well as the injuries that come with it. You might think that your arm is getting some exercise, but it’s really the wrong kind of movement and resting position that actually causes those injuries.

Ergonomic mice can only do so much since it simply shifts the tension and strain to other parts of the hand and arm. Orthopedists and physiotherapists might have a different idea on how to solve this problem, and it unsurprisingly involves using correct movements and posture. What may come as a surprise, however, is how this can be done by simply changing the way we use the mouse.

James Dyson Award national winner Orbit redesigns the mouse not by changing its shape but by changing the way we move it across a flat surface. Instead of simply sliding over a mouse pad, Orbit has three resistance bands that hold the “mouse” in the center. To move the mouse, you have to exert a bit of effort to counter the resistance, which, in turn, shifts the force to other muscle groups, particularly the ones responsible for posture. With this system, the body is forced not to slouch and use those upper body muscles instead of relying on wrist and forearm muscles to move the mouse.

Orbit actually does change the design of the mouse by turning it into a joystick. Unlike a typical joystick, however, you still have to move it across the surface, much like a mouse. The only difference is that the joystick shape keeps the arm in a more natural position to reduce stress. The touch-sensitive ring on top acts as a mouse wheel so that you don’t have to change your hand’s position or stop the movement just to use it. There is also a “flat” version that more closely resembles a traditional mouse that’s designed for gamers.

Whether it’s changing the shape of the mouse or adding some resistance, it’s encouraging to see designers challenging the status quo when it comes to this input device. It might still take some time before the industry embraces these ideas, but increasing awareness about the problems with computer mice is an important first step in changing people’s perceptions.

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Disperseed is a 3D-printed seed ball that helps forests repopulate after a forest fire

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A national runner-up at this year’s James Dyson Award, DISPERSEED hopes to bring floral diversity and a thriving ecosystem back to forests that have been devastated by fires. The 3D-printed seed ball invites animals and birds to come and feed on it, allowing the seeds to fall out onto the forest floor.

While man-made climate change has certainly caused its share of problems, forest fires aren’t exactly new to this world. In fact, over millions of years, certain plant species have even adapted to fires. Dubbed as ‘pyrophytic’ plants, these species are uniquely built to survive forest fires. This survival tactic, however, causes major imbalance to a forest’s natural diversity. With each subsequent fire, healthy plants are lost in the flames while resilient pyrophytic species end up taking their space. This affects a forest’s ecosystem, while also making it prone to more fires because pyrophytic trees are often drier than others (making them easy to ignite). While avoiding/preventing forest fires is an incredibly challenging task, a bunch of industrial designers at the Valencia Polytechnic University have a solution for helping bring floral diversity back to forests. Meet DISPERSEED, a nature-inspired seed ball that helps repopulate once-thriving forests.

Designers: Irene Badía Madrigal, Diego Polo García, Carmen Amorós Egea, Claudia Daudén Llodrá, Carmen Benítez Mora & David Zaragozá Sabater

Inspired by the shape of pollen (as a hat tip to pollen’s ability to travel far and wide to pollinate flowers), DISPERSEED is a bright red bauble of sorts that you can hang around a fire-ravaged forest. The ball, 3D-printed from an edible dough, is filled with seeds that either fall to the floor, or are ingested by small animals and birds, who carry the seed far and wide, helping propagate the seeds.

The seeds are designed to catch the eye. Their bright-red color and fruit-like size attract birds and animals that try to peck or burrow at it. Seeds suspended inside the ball are ingested by these animals, and it passes through their digestive tract, finally reaching the soil after the animal expels them. Within the animal’s digestive tract, the seeds lose their outer coating, making it easy for them to germinate (a process known as endozoochory). The seeds then help sprout more plants that allow a forest to recover after a fire, and the DISPERSEED itself biodegrades into the earth, given the fact that it’s made entirely from natural materials.

“In Spain it is unusual to have a summer in which there are no wildfires”, say the designers behind the DISPERSEED. “We have decided to design a product that favors the diversity of non-pyrophytic species in Mediterranean forest areas. This product allows for creating healthier and more sustainable forests that have greater resistance to these types of disasters.”

“Our future plans include aspects such as implementing the prototype in burned forests in the Mediterranean area and continuing with the research of materials using 3D printing technology”, the designers mention in their pitch to the James Dyson Award program. “It could also be extended to unburned areas to build up diversity and prevent future fires. Another great idea would be adapting it for professional use in the forestry field in order to multiply its uses.”

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The Shield ‘Ocean Garbage Collector’ helps sustainably take care of our sea waste problem

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More than half of the world’s population lives near a coast… and while that fact is pretty interesting on its own, it also leads me to my next point – near-shore activities generate tonnes of waste that end up either affecting the marine wildlife around the coast, or just end up ruining coastal areas when waste gets washed ashore. The Shield, designed by Zeteng Yan, hopes to contain the problem before it gets out of hand. Designed as individual floating stations that could be deployed in large numbers along a coastline, the Shields help collect garbage by using the ocean’s waves to propel trash into their collection chambers. It runs entirely on tidal energy, making it a sustainable zero-emissions solution to our waste problem.

Designer: Zeteng Yan

The shield is connected to the shore via a rope, while its frontal module has a floating line going right out into the sea. This helps position the Shield better for improved efficacy. The way the Shield works is simple and quite ingenious. Water crashing against its V-shaped surfaces pushes any possible waste right into the Shield’s open mouth. Two cavities (one on the top and one at the bottom) help the Shield collect garbage at both high tide as well as low tide. The internal cavity eventually gets filled with trash, and humans can routinely unplug the two modules to collect the trash once it gets filled to the brim.

Arriving at the Shield’s unique shape was a big challenge for Yan, as it needed to be both efficient as well as aesthetic. These shields are located well within the viewing range of humans and needed to look visually pleasing, to say the least. Moreover, it was important that the Shield was designed to be incredibly effective too, keeping coastal areas clean of garbage and debris.  To ensure people venturing out into the sea didn’t collide with the Shields, solar-powered lights on its rim helped keep it visible, while also making it easy to locate for trash-collecting teams. If it does somehow break loose, an internal SOS beacon gets activated and the Shield’s GPS location is sent to the authorities.

The Shield runs entirely on renewable energy, using the tide to help trap garbage. It works 24 hours a day, helping take care of our waste problem. It even got a nod from the James Dyson Award, which gave the Shield a National Runner-Up title for the year 2022.

“If we can build a garbage collection and defense system along the coast, its role is like wearing a mask to the coastline, which can not only prevent garbage from entering the sea, but also prevent other non-local garbage from coming ashore”, said Zeteng Yan, who recently obtained a utility model patent for his design. Yan is currently in the process of building out a life-size prototype to test its efficiency and refine its final design.

Testing prototypes for the Shield’s shape and efficacy

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