Students from the National University of Singapore have won the 2021 James Dyson Prize globally for inventing a unique HOPES device, which can help people measure eye pressure and take a glaucoma test at home without pain.
The James Dyson Prize announced that it will provide financial rewards totaling nearly £1 million to honor more than 250 promising inventions by young engineers and scientists in 28 countries around the world. In 2021, the award saw a record number of global entries, leading Sir James Dyson to select three first-time global winners, each receiving a £30,000 prize money to support the development of their inventions.
Commenting on the matter, Sir James Dyson said:
“I enjoy witnessing the enthusiasm of young people in tackling the world's problems by designing unique scientific and engineering innovations. This year's entries were so high quality that we created a third award dedicated to medical inventions. Given the difficulty of commercializing new ideas and presenting them to the world, we hope that this award will help shed light on these ideas, in addition to providing the necessary financial support to build a solid base that will enhance the chances of success of these innovations.”
Winning innovations
International Winner - HOPES designed by Kilo Yu, Si Lee and David Lee.
the problem
The international innovation winner of this year's James Dyson Prize came about as the father of one of the inventors, Kilo, was diagnosed with glaucoma; Which is the second leading cause of vision loss worldwide. Kilo realized the world's need for a less dangerous and easier way to monitor eye pressure, especially after noticing her father's discomfort as a result of his repeated visits to the hospital.
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness reported that in 2020, there were an estimated 600,000 people with vision loss in the UAE. Of these, 27,000 have lost their sight and become blind. Glaucoma has been identified as one of the leading causes of blindness in the country as many of them live with the disease, unaware they have it. Since it is largely symptom-free, it is also known as the "silent sight thief" and there is no cure, but blindness can be prevented if diagnosed and treated early.
Regular monitoring of intraocular pressure is an important way to help doctors determine long-term treatment plans and goals. This is achieved by the Applied Goldman tonometer, which is the gold standard for measuring intraocular pressure. The market is witnessing an increasing demand for safe, accurate and low-cost intra-ocular pressure devices to improve the patient experience.
the solution
HOPES stands for Home eye pressure E-skin Sensor, which stands for Home Eye Pressure E-skin Sensor; It is a wearable biomedical device for painless and low cost intraocular pressure measurement at home. HOPES is the ideal device for users who want to monitor their eye pressure themselves, powered by a patent-pending sensor technology combined with artificial intelligence technology.
The user wears the HOPES glove after creating a profile in the app, with the sensor placed on the tip of the finger and pressure on the center of the eyelid. The fingertip uses a premium sensor architecture that is able to receive dynamic pressure information of the user's eye with an accuracy of less than a millisecond. The captured signals are then processed by machine learning algorithms to continuously and accurately measure users' eye pressure.
This is followed by sending the data via Bluetooth to paired devices or uploading it to the cloud for doctors to access remotely. The app provides users with an easy-to-read measurement log and direct links to healthcare systems, allowing them to seek medical help to reduce future symptoms.
Sir James Dyson, founder and chief engineer at Dyson, said of the device: “I have closely watched the dangerous and disturbing effects of glaucoma tests, which remain a must. These young people have worked to treat a problem that does not directly affect them, but rather affects their family members. Their unique innovation makes glaucoma testing more widely available, so I wish them all success in their next arduous journey, which includes further development and medical approvals that need to be obtained.”
next steps
The team plans to collaborate with doctors at the National University Hospital to collect and analyze patients' eye pressure data to train the machine's machine learning mode. At the same time, they are working on improving the performance of HOPES and developing its design.
Commenting on their international award, the team members said: “We are proud that Sir James Dyson himself has honored us with the award for this year's international winners. As for our innovation, it was born with Kilo trying to find a solution to help her family get over her father's glaucoma. We hope that our win will help people in the future to measure intraocular pressure without pain at home, as we strive to improve the quality of life of patients and aspire to be able in the future to be able to apply the sensor technology devised by our research group using various health monitoring applications, such as robotics and biomedical devices.”
facts and stats
Glaucoma is the second leading cause of vision loss worldwide and intraocular pressure is the only modifiable risk factor.
A study indicates that about 3 in 5 people have not had their eyes examined within the past year, while nearly a third admit that their last eye examination is more than two years old. And 1 in 3 people admitted that their eyesight has decreased since the beginning of the health crisis.
The figures revealed that 17.3 per cent of the UAE population between the ages of 20 and 79 were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It is known that diabetics are more prone to developing eye diseases, such as cataracts, glaucoma or blockage of blood vessels in the retina.
Sustainability Award Winner - Plastic Scanner by Jerry de Vos
The Plastic Scanner innovation, designed by Jerry de Vos, a graduate of the School of Industrial Design from the Netherlands, received this year's Sustainability Award. This innovation comes in the form of a hand-held device that informs the user of the ingredients of the plastic product when directed towards it, as infrared light detects the plastic components.
Plastic Scanner uses separate infrared light to detect plastics, this method is a new and low cost method compared to traditional infrared spectroscopy. The device is also completely open source hardware, so anyone can assemble a disconnected circuit board and assemble electronic equipment together to design a handheld device. Open source also welcomes expert evaluations and improvements, and this will continually improve the project with every plastic recycling worldwide.
James Dyson, founder and chief engineer at Dyson, commented on the innovation: “Plastic is a durable, versatile material that plays an important role in our lives, although it has some bad properties. The main challenge for society is to ensure that plastic is reused and recycled effectively to avoid being dumped in landfill. And Jerry worked to develop an effective technology to facilitate the process of recycling for everyone, given the foggy situation surrounding this concept in the world. When I called Jerry to tell him about his victory, I found him on his way to Algeria to help local communities spread recycling initiatives, underscoring his determination to focus his efforts on supporting developing countries. I think what he is doing is inspiring to the community and I wish him every success with this very important technology.”
facts and stats
Only 16% of plastic waste has been recycled to make new plastics, with 40% sent to landfill, 25% incinerated and 19% thrown into public spaces.
Research has found that 94% of Americans support recycling while 74% consider it a top priority, with only about 35% of people committing to recycling.
Clinical winner - REACT device designed by Joseph Bentley
REACT is an acronym for Rapid Emergency Actuating Tamponade, which reduces significant blood loss from stabbings. Joseph's innovation is consistent with the doctors' advice not to remove the stabbing instrument if it is attached to the body to maintain the internal pressure at the wound site, fill the stabbing site, and prevent internal bleeding; Where an implantable and inflatable medical silicone plug is inserted into the incision by the first responder. The actuator is connected to the stopper valve for the user to choose the location of the wound on the front of the device, while activating the actuator starts the automatic inflating of the stopper until a specific pressure is reached based on the site of the wound to try to stop the bleeding.
James Dyson, founder and chief engineer at Dyson, said of the innovation: “This type of problem-oriented invention demonstrates the significant contribution that engineers make to important global issues, which is the main reason for launching the James Dyson Prize. I also encourage Joseph to continue his wonderful work and to overcome all the challenges he may face while developing this medical device, and seize the opportunity to save many lives. I hope that this award will provide the necessary support for him to complete the development of this innovation that will bring about an impactful change in the global medical sector.”
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