15-year- old Max produced the Vybpro, a wearable wrist band which warns users whenever they are about to touch their faces. The gesture has been recognized as one of the key ways that COVID- 19 can be spread, making it a potentially life- saving invention.
He first hit on the excellent idea two years ago for the purpose of reducing the spread of the cold and flu. After both of Max's parents were infected with COVID-19 four months ago, however, he put in all his effort to develop a working prototype(模型).
Worn on both wrists, the intelligent device is expected to sell for ￡89. It uses position sending technology algorithms(算法) to tell between predicted face touching and other hand motions. Then the device warns users of hand gestures that are dangerously near the face.
"We came up with the concept a few years ago when my family was repeatedly catching cold and flu viruses from traveling in and out of London and I could see how easy it was to pick up germs especially from using public transport, " said Max. "It was only when the World Health Organization ( WHO) began suggesting people avoid touching their eyes, noses and faces to stop the spread of viruses from contaminated surfaces did I realize that it could play a part in slowing the spread of COVID-19. "
Max, who is from Bristol, launched a ￡60, 000 crowd funding campaign(众筹活动) on Kick starter earlier this week to further his project and turn the prototype into a public reality.
"The main task of this project is not to make money, but to get it onto the wrists of those it can help keep safe. Any profits made from early sales through the crowd funding site will be reinvested into providing free devices for organizations that help people such as National Health Service (NHS) staff and nursing homes.
