Ch Sharath Chandra, H V Mani Kanta Swamy, G Vijaya Bhaskar B.Tech III year students of Biomedical Engineering, B. V. Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur won First Prize in BioAsia 2015 Healthcare Devthon. The team was given Rs. 1 lakh grant for further development of the product and the team will be working with Technology Business Incubation Center, BITS Pilani (Hyderabad Campus).
BioAsia 2015 was an initiative to spur innovations in healthcare & life sciences through co-creation. Healthcare Devthon brought together healthcare experts, doctors, designers, engineers, technologists and developers together onto one platform to discover, design and rapidly prototype technologies and solutions relevant to the life sciences and healthcare fields. The goal is to facilitate the development of products and services that address unmet needs and are positioned to be rapidly adopted by end-users.
The students developed Self Feeding Utensil for Disabled People. It is an Electro Mechanical Assistive Device, which is foot operated and helps the disabled to feed themselves. It eliminates the need of caregiver. This is a low cost device which is affordable even by rural India.
Primary users of this device are people with following disabilities
- http://bvrit.ac.in/templates/beez_20/images/bullet.gif) 0px 7px no-repeat scroll transparent;”>who have difficulty moving their upper limbs
- http://bvrit.ac.in/templates/beez_20/images/bullet.gif) 0px 7px no-repeat scroll transparent;”>high-level spinal cord injuries
- http://bvrit.ac.in/templates/beez_20/images/bullet.gif) 0px 7px no-repeat scroll transparent;”>cerebral palsy
- http://bvrit.ac.in/templates/beez_20/images/bullet.gif) 0px 7px no-repeat scroll transparent;”>Muscular diseases (weak muscle movement)
- http://bvrit.ac.in/templates/beez_20/images/bullet.gif) 0px 7px no-repeat scroll transparent;”>hand paralysis
- http://bvrit.ac.in/templates/beez_20/images/bullet.gif) 0px 7px no-repeat scroll transparent;”>senior citizens who have difficulties with the motor functions of their upper limbs
The team will take this device forward to make it fully automated.
