The Italian jury of the James Dyson Award has chosen the three winning projects of the local edition of the competition that rewards innovative ideas and inventors who want to change the world. In third place was placed FIIL, a walker for the elderly for home use that facilitates movement but can also be used to sit down and carry objects with greater ease. On the second step of the podium, on the other hand, the LB Drone project has risen, a life-saving drone that can be piloted remotely and is designed to assist rescue operations in the open sea.
The first Italian prize for the best invention was instead assigned to Argo, a wearable device for visually impaired swimmers and swimmers that increases their autonomy by signaling the turn and orientation in the pool with a vibration system.
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“Argo is counting on an already advanced stage of development”, explained the Italian jury in its motivation. “A simple and easy to implement idea to eliminate the obstacles that a blind swimmer may encounter when diving in the pool. A potentially hostile element like water defused by an object it sees, senses, protects “.
The inventors of Argo are Sara Labidi (24 years old), Giuseppe Campanale (23 years old) and Daniela Bigon (52 years old), all three enrolled in the master’s degree course in Communication and Product Design at the IUAV in Venice. They are entitled to a cash prize of € 5900, as well as obviously the possibility of accessing the final phase of the international competition, the winner of which will be chosen by Sir James Dyson himself. The winning project will be announced on November 16 and will be awarded with a final prize of 35700 euros.
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The other two projects of the Italian final triplet, LB Drone and FIIL, will also access the final phase. The life-saving drone LB Drone was conceived by Edoardo Sernicola: graduated from the IED, born in 1998, he defines himself as “self-taught who experiments”. The drone can be piloted remotely to facilitate rescue operations at sea, but it is also equipped with an autonomous mode for situations where the signal is missing. The peculiarity is the presence of an extendable frame that can adapt to rescue up to two people at the same time.
FIIL, on the other hand, is a new concept walker for the elderly, conceived by Martina Arleo, Roman Product Designer, born in 1996. Born from the idea of innovating a design that has remained the same in its basic form for many years, FIIL has a contemporary look, uses warm materials such as wood instead of metal and is not only designed for walking: thanks to an intelligent design it can also be used as a chair or as a support to easily transport objects.
“A great but simple idea”, explained the jury in motivating the choice of the project as third place. “The reinterpretation of a common product which, instead of being made of exposed aluminum tubes, fits more integrated into the domestic environments of our homes. A design that does not sacrifice ergonomics and practicality but, on the contrary, adds functionality to the product “.
The Italian jury of the James Dyson Award this year was composed of Irene Boni, CEO of Talent Garden; Matteo Curti, radio, television author and videomaker; Andrea Ricci, mechanical engineer who works for Dyson in the Environmental Care research team.