A team of young people from Bath will be representing the UK in the world finals of a design competition later this month.
The team – Freya Alder, 15; Tom Mason, 14; Rafi Borries Gruber, 12; Dani Workman, 15; Joe Mason, 11; Claudia Moorhouse, 11, and Max Workman, 13, – won the UK Lego Robotics final in January go to St Louis in the USA for the world finals, from April 23rd – 27th.
They were supported by Age UK B&NES as the competition included researching and designing a product aimed at solving a problem experienced by elderly people.
They looked at social isolation, memory loss, mobility, eyesight and general anxiety and came to the realisation that all these problems affect elderly people’s ability to answer the front door. Research showed that cold callers and strangers were a worry for elderly people and because of this carers and relatives were sometimes not allowed in.
After some initial research the students decided to design a doorbell with a fingerprint recognition system, and then took their first prototype to St Michael’s Day Centre, run by Age UK B&NES.
The doorbell is designed to recognise visitors by scanning their fingerprints and informs the elderly resident who is at their front door via a screen display. For someone with either poor mobility or dementia, it can automatically open the door for recognised visitors.
Freya Alder, aged 15, one of members of the winning team, said: “The visit to Age UK B&NES’ day centre was very useful and helped us think a bit more broadly about how the doorbell might work.
“For example someone mentioned supermarket deliveries, where there may be someone different at your door each time they visit. Their feedback helped us to change the design and make it better.”
Janet Dabbs, chief executive of Age UK B&NES, said: “We were very happy to work with this group of young people, and were impressed with both their design and the way in which they had really considered the needs of people as they get older.
“They’ve obviously done very well to become UK champions, and we’d like to wish them every success in the world finals.”
The pupils go to Ralph Allen and King Edward’s schools and met as friends first, then set up and ran the club by themselves, with the support of parents. The students are now setting up clubs in their schools for future children to get involved.
As part of the competition they were asked to build a robot named The Beast which has a range of attachments for specific tasks, and even included a detachable mini-robot for missions requiring more dexterity.
They were also supported by Bath Institute of Medical Engineering and Rotork.
