Technology Category

GOLD
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SILVER – Free Walk (Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering / Department of Mechanical Engineering)
Intelligent Reabling Assistive Walker
According to the World Health Organization report, approximately one billion people worldwide suffered from a certain degree of disability in their lives due to old age and disease, and about 200 million of them are in distress due to incapacity. If these disabled persons can be assisted with the help of assistive devices or rehabilitation training, they will have the opportunity to accomplish their self-living ability. This project develops a smart walker that has applicability and training effectiveness evaluation for the patients with light and moderate walking disabilities. During the process of rehabilitation with the help of the smart walker, various physiological parameters and rehabilitation benefit evaluation indexes can be recorded, including data such as physiological signals, foot pressure, gait, walking trajectory, the rehabilitation efficiency analysis and behavior pattern analysis in an artificial intelligence manner. In addition, the individualized support and service of the elderly will be included. At present, the integration of mechanism and power system of the assistive walker have been completed, which can drive the assistive walker to move according to the patient's ability recovery or rehabilitation status and provide assistive walking. In addition, the walker can measure the patient's hand force and weight to understand the patient's recovery status.

BRONZE – Give me your hand (National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering / Kaohsiung Medical University, Department of Occupational Therapy)
Electric Finger Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Device
Nowadays stroke cases have been increasing severely in our modern society. According to the World Health Organization, 15 million people suffer strokes worldwide each year. Of these, 5 million died and another 5 million post-stroke patients suffer from high muscle spasticity had difficulty in performing finger flexion/extension movement normally. This complication seriously interferes with their ability to perform activities in daily lives. Hence, the aim of this project is to design a hand exoskeleton device that provides repetitive training of passive flexion and extension of the finger to induce brain plasticity, thereby increasing rehabilitation efficiency and learning enhancement. In order to promote safety precaution, a limit sensor was set up on the device that allows immediate termination of the motor device to prevent overstretching of the finger during passive flexion/extension stretching exercise. Based on related medical research, the golden period of post-stroke rehabilitation is within 3 to 6 months; therefore, we hope to encourage post-stroke patients to wear this device during their recovery period as their own home-therapy tools to reduce their muscle spasticity. In a nutshell, the structure of our design is relatively simple due to its integration with 3D printing technology. This novel device is featured with the following advantages. First, the cost of both making and maintenance of the device is much lower than that of typical electronic hand prosthetics. Besides compared to conventional hand-resting splints, our assistive device has additional functions that can help develop clients’ motor learning skills. Moreover, this exoskeleton device can be used as a home-based rehabilitation device for stroke patients to effectively reduce their post-stroke spasticity, making their lives more convenient and independent in various aspects.

BRONZE – Wheelchair-savvy (Chung Yuan Christian University, Department of Biomedical Engineering / Department of Commercial Design / National Formosa University, Department of Multimedia Design)
Wheelchair-savvy
The population aging is a serious issue in Taiwan for recent years. The elderly not only need the caring services but also demanding for the wheelchair to assist their walk. In order to reduce the manpower, strength the self-caring ability of the elderly and improve the impact from the burden of body which causing by the wheelchair, we design a type of wheelchair which can be easily using by themselves for decreasing the caring demands. Unlike other published wheelchairs in the market, our users don’t need to transpose by the assistance from manpower. The users only have to sit on bedside and controlling the wheelchair to reach the bedside, then holding the auxiliary lever and slowly move forward to get on/off the wheelchair. We achieve the functions such as correcting posture and activating the blood circulation by adding the standing posture and kneeling posture, we also increase the exercising spaces for hand in the meanwhile to enable our users having some simple self-care (e.g. drinking water, taking books or going to the restroom）. In our user community, we will focus on the elderly and the disabled. Thus, our customer base will be the nursing home which demanding higher manpower and the general home that require for self-care. We believe that the design above can indirectly change the posture of the wheelchair and make the users (the elderly and the disabled) having more convenient and cozy lives.

MERIT – Ace (Taipei Medical University, Department of Biomedical Engineering)
My Medical Assistant
It is designed for the middle aged and elderly who take medicine daily. Nowadays, taking medicine has become part of daily routine; however, many kinds of medicine and how to take them properly at the right time become the burden of memory. Thus, we have designed an application which includes today’s reminder, health condition and information. In today’s reminder, users can be notified when and how much amount of medicine they should take, alone with the time of appointments. Once the user delays, it will automatically inform the family member. Users also can key in their blood pressure, blood sugar and so on, and the application can combine and output these data for doctors to track. As for the content of information, the user can find the contact, history of medicine and appointments. Most of all, users can scan the prescription to load in the data. Finally, we hope to build a better medical relationship with simplified operation and interface via this application.

Best Presentation – Ace
My Medical Assistant

Best Prototype – Free Walk
Intelligent Reabling Assistive Walker

Best Ergonomic
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Design Category

GOLD - Rain Accordion (Jen-Teh Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management)
Adaptive drinking cup with air pressure
Objectives of the project: We want to design a water bottles for those with poor sucking ability development or those without sucking ability to drink water safely and efficiently. Who are the target users: This product is designed for people with poor sucking ability development or those without sucking ability patient. Why does the user need this: Some diseases cause abnormal muscle tone, such as cerebral palsy(CP). While CP patients are drinking water, they will make a series of abnormal coordinated actions. Therefore, most caregivers use spoons to help patients drink water, but it’s inefficient and takes too much time. In this product, we add a pump beside the water bottle to pressurize the water flowing out of the straw. Safety precaution: If we use pressure to let water flow out of the straw, it is easy to cause choking due to the excessive impact of the water flow. We changed the shape of the bottle mouth and added a new device inside. This device can prevent the water flow from directly rushing into the mouth and can greatly reduce the flow velocity and impact to avoid the occurrence of choking.

SILVER – Be with you (Chang Gung University, School of Physical Therapy / Department of Information Management / Department of Industrial Design)
Dual function walker
According to the statistics data of Executive Yuan, the senior will achieve 20 % of total population in 2026 in Taiwan, which is called super aged society. With the coming of the super aged society, more elderly people need locomotion devices. However, most of strength-insufficient elderly with degenerative joint disease are usually wheelchair-bound, which accordingly leads to the loss of body and systemic function. The others who are willing to walk with walkers often suffer from back pain and other medical problems due to poor posture. In order to let the elders go outdoor, interact with others socially and reduce the burden on caregivers, our team create this “dual function walker”. Our product improves the traditional anterior walker. It can correct the user’s posture to prevent kyphosis. When the elders feel tired to walk, our product can transform posterior walker into a stroller for the caregivers to move on. Our product combines the function of autonomous mobility and assists mobility of caregivers, so that the elders don’t need to worry walking too slow or too short. As the same time, by easily transformation design, it is convenient for the caregivers to easily operate this device, effectively reduce the burden on the caregivers. The aim of our product is to make elders more willing to go outdoor with their family. Enhance family relationship and create more memories.

Bronze – All in one hand (Jenteh Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, Department of Rehabilitation)
Multi-Functional Medical Hammer
In clinical practice, physical therapists and doctors usually bring goniometer, reflex hammer, and sensory test tools to evaluation patients at the same time. It is heavy, hard to carry, occupying space and just has single function. Our Multi-functional medical hammer combines these tools. The advantages of our invention are: time –saving, multi-functional, reducing space and easy to carry.

MERIT
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Best Presentation – As possible (National Cheng Kung University / Department of Physical Therapy)
Splicing antii-skidding mat
The main function of our product is to prevent people from slipping when they are doing any kind of sports physiotherapy. The initial motivation is when we saw the patients doing therapeutic exercises such as squatting against the wall, pushing-up, using the swiss ball and balance cushion, it always leads to falling over because of the insufficient friction to floor. Therefore, the awful scene inspires us to design a product that combines the non-slip mat with the nano silicon-made tape in a flat rectangle shape. Deriving the concept from blocks, the product can assemble into any size according to users’ demand. On the front side, it is covered with the anti-skidding material for the sake of setting foot or other objects on. As for the back side, we use sticky silicone tape to fix the product tightly on the floor. Our target users vary, involving people who need a physical therapy after a knee surgery, stroke patients, elderly who do muscle strengthening exercise, and so on. In our daily lives, this product can also be applied to bathroom, stairs, handles and improve our qualities of life. Because it is portable and able to assemble, it won't be limited by sizes and shapes, which can be utilized in multiple fields. To increase product’s lifespan as well as lower the expense of customers, the tape is reusable. Due to the affordable price of raw material, we have confidence that the benefits will surpass the cost and create a safety environment for particular groups.

Best Prototype – All in one hand
Multi-Functional Medical Hammer

Best Ergonomic – Rain Accordion
Adaptive drinking cup with air pressure