element14 celebrates community designs that give back

“We are blown away by the innovative solutions members of our community have come up with to help others, whether it’s to protect against Covid, provide accessibility, improve overall quality of life and even help with resource conservation”, ,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “We are proud to offer a platform for our members to showcase their own innovations which give back to their communities and allow other members to replicate their designs and further extend the positive impact.” 

Some recent projects designed to help those in need include:

• The VenTTracker: Enrique Albertos from Fullcarga, Spain, created an IoT Device that monitors gas density and controls windows in a given area to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The practical engineering of this device demonstrated the expandability potential of this design and the benefit it could serve in health care settings to help end the pandemic. His project received the Grand Prize of the recent “Design for a Cause” challenge.

• Vital Care: Kamrul Hussain from Dhaka, Bangladesh, created a handheld device that allows for continuous vital monitoring for COVID-19 survivors, meant to ease the post-recovery process. The device includes breathing and temperature sensors which send health parameters to the Cloud for telemedicine monitoring, making care from home much more manageable.

• Finger Print Skeleton Key: Milos Rasic from Serbia created a scanner that reads RFID tags next to or on locks and then presents users with the correct key through fingerprint recognition technology. The device is meant to benefit and help those with low dexterity or sight issues to open locked doors and maintain their own security.

• DIY Arduino Mobility Bike: Father and son team Sean and Connor Miller, from Kentucky, US, created a smart bike with assistive technology to allow those with multiple sclerosis (MS) or other disabilities to have the same access to bike riding as able-bodied persons. The inspiration for their project was Sean’s wife, who was diagnosed with MS several years ago. Their design highlights how the Nano 33 IoT can be used to add a number of safety sensors and interlocks to motorized bikes, includingan SD card output to study sensor data and calibrate for best ride quality and safety.

element14 is part of Farnell, an Avnet Company and global distributor of electronic components, which helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.