Winners in each category will be picked by the judging panel on the 30th of May. Each winner will receive a trophy and winners of the Best New Concept and the Best Collaborative Project will also receive £1,000 prize money courtesy of our sponsor Kingdom Gas. Select the name of each entrant to see it in action. Who would you like to see win?

Best New Aids and Equipment

• Aquaplane - Chris Shore

A multi-use swimming aid. It was entered on account of its recent success when used by a young boy in Bosnia who wanted to learn to swim but had no arms! He was sent an Aquaplane over to him, and now he is not only swimming, but competing in competitions.

• Limb Difference – Rob Smith

A gripping aid designed for users who have a limb difference affecting their hands or fingers. This may include those with dysmelia (conditions from birth), or those who have sustained a limb difference through amputation, injury or illness later in life. The gripping aid is perfect for those who have some of or all their fingers, or parts of their hand, missing.

• RAPAEL Smart Glove – Anna Choi

RAPAEL Smart Glove is an exo-glove with built-in sensors and an artificial intelligence software to help patients with neurological and musculoskeletal injuries regain their hand mobility. The RAPAEL software creates game-based training tasks which simulate actions conducted in daily life, and therapists can design specific rehab programs by combining various games.

Best New Accessible Technology

• Eyesynth – Mark Dobson

Eyesynth is an audio-visual system for people who have a visual impairment. It consists of a pair of glasses connected to a microcomputer. The system records the surrounding environment in three dimensions. Then, the collected data is converted into understandable audio for the wearer, which allows them to identify the position of objects and obstacles, as well as their size and shape.

• RAPAEL Smart Pegboard – Anna Choi

RAPAEL Smart Pegboard is a digital pegboard designed to improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation training for grasp and dexterity for stroke patients. It provides real-time visual and auditory feedback and the product can capitalize on neuroplasticity.

Best Collaborative Project:

• Iridis – Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC), University of...

Iridis is a digital version of the DSDC’s research-based Dementia Design Audit Tool. Users are asked questions about their surroundings, and asked to take photographs, as they work their way round the building. On average, it takes around 20 minutes to assess the suitability of a two-bedroom home. The app will generate a range of recommended improvements, which could be as simple as changing a light bulb, to more complex improvements such as reconfiguring bathrooms.

• The Love Jacket – Abi Lierheimer, Taeyeon Kim, Neya John

A tailor made formal jacket designed to meet the needs of a wheelchair user. The designers worked with the client to find out what problems they faced when wearing a regular suit jacket as well as taking it on and off. They designed the Love Jacket to counter those issues and create a comfortable and convenient item of formal clothing for a wheelchair user.

• Unparalleled - Julia Liao, Claudia Poh and Estee Bruno

Unparalleled is a two-part wool coat that people with upper body paralysis can don on and off independently. The case study for this design has a rare case of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease or Motor Neuron Disease) called flail arm syndrome, causing both her arms to be paralyzed and unable to dress herself. Unparalleled enables her to keep warm during cold New York winters, so that she can go to work, socialize and run errands independently.

Best New Concept:

• Guidance system for VI athletes – Andrew Taylor

A pair of running glasses with an integrated camera and bone conduction headphones. It is designed to help track athletes who are visually impaired to run independently. An algorithm tracks the user’s current lane and determines the error between their target direction and their current direction. This information is relayed through bone conduction headphones. It can also correct the direction if needed.

• AllGo app - Ed Warner + Andrew Costa

AllGo app is in the early stages of development and allows users to create a personalised travel passport capturing their specific needs. The passport will be easily migratable across online travel platforms, such as Expedia, which would show the user all available hotel rooms from around the world that are a perfect match for their needs and are AllGo accredited.

• Tactile - Jessica Shi

Tactile is a device that enables on-demand conversion of printed text-to-Braille. A user who has a visual impairment is able to scan any block of printed text and immediately read the Braille translation on Tactile’s interface.

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