Electronics Weekly
The event took place at the IET London, and saw the impressive nine finalists showcase their inventions to a panel of judges. The presentation and prize-giving was hosted by the BBC’s science presenter Maggie Philbin, also CEO of TeenTech CIC.
As always, it’s a very good and worthy initiative to get schools and colleges involved, and this year’s challenge was to produce “innovations that will improve the lives of people who have conditions that limit their ability to do the things some of us take for granted”.
Entries included a memory clock to help improve the daily lives of dementia patients and a front door system to help the deafblind identify people visiting their home.
Other projects included a learning game to help those with Attention-Deficit-Disorders and dyslexia and a device that allows wheelchair users to play seated volleyball with an interactive net.
There was also a drum kit that allows sufferers of Parkinson’s to combat stress with the sound of music (right).
A particularly impressive one was the MxStation (below), to alert carers about possible falls in the home. The work of MaxAmos, of Haileybury College in Herftfordshire, involved ZigBee, an Arduino, a Raspberry Pi and a touch screen interface. The prototype ZigBee-enabled pendant is pictured first, then the Pi-powered base station.
Max was one of the winners (Years 7 – 11), along with The Pirates from St Mary’s School (Years 4 – 6) and PiRight (bottom) from King Edward VI Grammar School (Years 12 – 13) in Sussex.
The full panel of judges comprised:
- Anita Chandraker, Head of digital, PA Consulting Group and chair of judging panel
- Philip Colligan, Chief Executive, Raspberry Pi Foundation
- Andy Claughton, Chief Technology Officer, Land Rover BAR
- Rob Elsey, Executive Director for Technology and CIO, Bank of England
- Emma Payne, Head of IT Delivery, John Lewis
- Adam Jezard, Commissioning Editor, Financial Times
- Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology Correspondent, BBC
- Sarah Wilkinson, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer, Home Office
- Olly Stephens, Distinguished Engineer and Lead Architect of the Technology Services Group, ARM
- Tom Hartley, Student at Imperial College London and ex-PA Raspberry Pi winner
As always, it was great for Electronics Weekly to attend the event. See, for example, last year’s Picture Gallery: PA Raspberry Pi coding competition.
Here’s a video of this year’s event:
…And of last year’s competition final:
Stay tuned, too, for the EW BrightSparks awards, in partnership with RS Components. The event is taking place at the Houses of Parliament next week on 3 May, celebrating the young ‘design engineers of tomorrow’.
See also: Raspberry Pi design challenge launched
