The international student design competition, which has now supported more than 400 problem-solving inventions from young engineers and scientists worldwide, received over 2,000 nearly this year.
Two global winners have each received £30,000 for solving significant problems of global importance in medicine and sustainability.
Medical Winner
This year’s Medical Winner was 24-year-old designer Olivia Humphreys (Ireland). Inspired by her mother’s painful battle with cancer, Humphreys designed Athena – an affordable and portable device for chemotherapy patients that uses scalp cooling to prevent hair loss.
It is one-twentieth of the price of existing technology, and can be used outside hospital, reducing the time patients are forced to spend on wards.
Some 65-99 percent of patients going through chemotherapy will be affected by chemo-induced hair loss.
Current hair-loss prevention techniques commonly use scalp cooling, a method which involves applying ice-cold temperatures to the scalp before, during, and after chemotherapy, which can be very painful for patients.
It mitigates hair loss by shrinking blood vessels and limiting blood flow to the scalp. After chemotherapy, cooling can also help hair grow back faster and stronger.
However, the availability of scalp cooling is limited due to its high costs. Ensuring the equipment fits the patient properly and the extended time for which a patient needs to be in hospital are additional hurdles. There are cheaper, manual cooling alternatives available, yet these are less powerful, and they don’t provide long-lasting effects.
Meanwhile, Athena is a portable, thermoelectric hair-loss prevention device that uses scalp cooling. It’s more cost effective and time saving than current hospital models, without compromising on the quality.
Current scalp cooling products use refrigeration technology requiring constant plugged-in power. The patient must arrive at the hospital 30 minutes early and stay for 90 minutes after infusion for pre- and post-scalp cooling.
On the other hand, battery-powered Athena, weighing around 3kg, consists of a carry case and a cooling headpiece, that fits to different head shapes, and enables people to spend less time in hospital on a chemotherapy infusion day.
It works by using low-cost thermoelectric semiconductors called Peltiers, and these cool a tank of water, which circulates the cold water around the head with the smartly designed headpiece.
“It started with a lot of research and conversations with nurses at the local hospital where my mum received her chemotherapy treatment,” Olivia Humphreys said, explaining how she created the initial prototype for Athena.
“Once I’ve understood the challenges of current scalp cooling methods and the potential capabilities of Peltier semiconductors in tackling them, I decided to build a working prototype to develop the concept.
“My first prototype is the combination of a Peltier computer cooling fan system, a diaphragm pump, my mum’s old suitcase, and my dad’s plane battery.
With Athena, patients can start and end the scalp-cooling process themselves from wherever they wish, such as in the comfort
of their own home. At full power, it can run for 3.5 hours, allowing the patient to commute to and from the hospital while cooling, and move around during infusion, such as for bathroom visits.
Athena aims to give control back to patients during a time when they usually have little of it.
The estimated cost for Athena would be around €1,000, according to Humphreys, which is significantly less than industry machines which start at around €20,000.
Humphreys is now working on reducing the pain and discomfort often experienced by cancer patients who use cooling technologies. “I’ve been working with an oncologist who suggested that applying a numbing cream around the scalp could reduce the pain, so I’ve been researching into this,” she said.
“While making scalp cooling more affordable and accessible is my current focus for Athena, developing new technology beyond cooling to make it more comfortable is one of my next big steps.”
Long term, Olivia is exploring novel technologies for future hair loss prevention methods beyond scalp cooling.
Sustainability Winner
Meanwhile, postdoctoral researchers Shane Kyi Hla Win and Danial Sufiyan Bin Shaiful (Singapore) triumphed in this year’s Sustainability category with their joint creation, airXeed Radiosonde.
airXeed Radiosonde is a reusable, nature-inspired sensor for weather forecasting. Unlike current weather balloons, it does not create tonnes of plastic and electronics waste, and intelligently descends like a maple seed to avoid aircraft collisions and land in designated collection
zones.
Every day, weather stations worldwide launch devices via weather balloons that gather critical atmospheric data for accurate weather forecasting.
These small devices, called radiosondes, measure air pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction and transmit this data back to ground stations, helping meteorologists track weather patterns and forecast conditions.
However, current devices are single-use and contribute to tonnes of plastic and e-waste globally.
After reaching high altitudes, the balloon carrying the device bursts, and the sensor descends rapidly, often crashing in remote and costly-to-retrieve locations, without collecting further atmospheric data as it falls.
There are 1,300 weather stations around the world, and it’s predicted they release at least two single-use radiosondes per day. So, over a year, almost one million radiosondes are released, costing $190 million and creating almost 48 tonnes of e-waste.
Young engineers Shane Kyi Hla Win and Danial Sufiyan Bin Shaiful, from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, drew inspiration from nature to create airXeed Radiosonde.
Their focus was to improve the descent and end-of-life of a radiosonde to make them reusable, reducing e-waste and minimising pollution in remote areas.
The team used the autorotation of maple seeds in their solution. A maple seed’s asymmetrical shape creates lift and drag, allowing it to spin like a helicopter as it falls.
The two engineers applied this principle to their radiosonde design, enabling it to spiral during descent. This not only slows the device,
preventing damage upon impact with the ground, but also increases the likelihood of it landing in an accessible location, making retrieval and reuse easier.
The team used machine learning to optimise this design for the best flight performance. AirXeed’s controlled descent allows it to collect and transmit more atmospheric data to weather stations, as traditional radiosondes cannot do this.
To avoid collision with aircraft, and very windy conditions that could deviate the descent, the device stops autorotating when passing through aircraft cruise altitude. It enters a dive mode to increase its speed.
The team have also added an onboard controller to manage the device’s stability and flight path to land without impact near the closest collection zone for reuse. This controller is enhanced by machine learning to estimate wind speed and direction onboard, as well as select the best landing location.
Collection zones would be established based on weather patterns and local government collaboration.
Equipped with GPS and flight navigation, the radiosonde would select the optimal collection zone from multiple options at each weather station, ensuring a smooth return based on weather and flight trajectory.
Shane Kyi Hla Win and Danial Sufiyan Bin Shaiful prioritised sustainability in their material choice, using balsa wood and foam for the lightweight wing and cowling. Modular components allow for easy replacement and recycling of worn parts, catering to industry needs.
Next, the two engineers plan to team up with weather stations to conduct high-altitude testing and refine our invention further.
On top of that, they say, “We’d like to collaborate with radiosonde manufacturers to produce our sensors, to ensure airXeed is highly calibrated to survive harsh conditions in the atmosphere, where it could reach up to -80°C.”