As a result of the efforts of three groups of young people whose ideas were applied to develop new inventions to improve health, all these are now possible. The three groups, which were among 95 teams from across the country, recently received awards at the 6th Philips Young Inventors Challenge, a contest organised by Philips Electronics (Thailand) to allow those between 18 and 25 years old to show their talent in developing inventions under the concept of New Inventions for Thai Health and Wellness.

Philips hoped the contest would encourage young people to conduct research as a foundation for the future.

Second runner-up

Elastic orthopaedics machine

It is very difficult for paralysed patients to exercise their own muscles, but with a new machine, things will be easier for them.

The three students from Cholabhorn (Ladkwang) Technical College, Pakbhum Malamoolsri, Adisak Silasuwan and Montri Wansanit, have developed what they call an elastic orthopaedics machine to help paralysed patients do leg muscle exercises with more convenience.

They spent only two months in the development.

The developers said the machine uses a simple technology - a motor to automatically drive a foot panel.

When the patient sits on the machine and puts his feet on the panel, then turns on a switch, the system moves the panel forwards and backwards and this helps the patient exercise the muscles from the knee joint up to the hip.

To make the machine fit for all levels of paralysed patients, the team also developed a system to allow users to set a proper speed for the panel movement as well as set the time for the exercise.

The developers said they had tested the machine with paralysed patients for a week and they found that those who used it for exercise have reported improved muscles.

First runner-up

Fluid empty alarm

The idea was sparked while taking care of his grandfather at the hospital. When the sodium-chloride solution being injected into his grandfather nearly ran out and the nurse was not around, Sarayut Yamsri had to find a nurse to tap a new bottle.

To prevent the risk of the solution running dry, Sarayut planned to develop a system which can give an automatic alert to nurses when the fluid in the bottle is low.

Sarayut, together with three friends, Jakkrit Sangkhato, Sathaporn Burapa and Akkapong Noksanga, all from Sing Buri Technical College, spent five months turning the idea into reality. They finally came up with a fluid-alarm system, which they said could alert nurses when a new bottle was needed.

The system involves two main parts - the transmitter box and the receiver box. The transmitter is linked to the bottle and it detects the volume of fluid. If the fluid is low, it sends an alarm wirelessly to the receiver to warn nurses at the counter.

The team used a spring to measure the volume of fluid in the bottle.

When the solution has almost run out, the bottle weighs less and this causes the spring between the bottle and the transmitter to contact and hit a switch inside the box. A micro-controller then gets the alert and sends a UHF signal to the receiver at the nurses' station.

At the receiver, the UHF signal triggers an alarm.

The developers said as each transmitter was designed to have its own identity number, when it sent a signal to the receiver, the receiver knows which patient needs attention.

"The nurses are aware immediately, with no need to walk round and check every patient," the developers said.

The team designed the receiver to interpret signals from five transmitters concurrently, but using the existing micro-controller technology it could be expanded to serve 11 transmitters. The system has already been used in a hospital in Sing Buri.

First prize

Walking stick for the blind

For those who are visual impaired, going somewhere alone may cause difficulty. Soon their worries will be over if they just have a walking stick.

Three students, Jakkaphan Lo-U-Tai, Niphon Moungaomklang and Narin Soontonpong, from Phetchabun Technical College, have come up with an idea to develop a technology to help the blind navigate for themselves.

By adopting the radio frequency identification system (RFID), the young developers turned a normal stick into an intelligent cane. The cane can not only detect a user's location but also speak the location out loud to them.

An RFID reader is attached to the end of the stick, and works like a sensor.

When users walk to places where RFID tags are embedded on the floor, the reader detects them and speaks the information stored in the RFID tag, which is then sent to a micro-controller inside the stick.

The developers said the beauty of this stick was that information from the RFID reader is processed through so-called text-to-speech software, to turn all the text data into speech so that users are told their location.

"We use RFID technology to identify their location and use text-to-speech technology to make the stick talk. These features are all useful, especially for the blind," the developers said.

To help users get clearer speech information, the developers have also used infrared technology to link the stick and an infrared-enabled headset so users hear the location information directly.

A digital compass was also built inside the stick, the developers said. Once users flick a switch, the compass detects the direction and informs the user. A built-in ultrasonic sensor helps users detect obstacles within a one-metre range and sounds an alarm when an obstacle is encountered.

The technology is intended to allow the blind to go anywhere by themselves and become more self-reliant.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation