Hanoi (VNA) -With a passion for physics, a Dong Nai-based group of students have invented anaffordable robot-wheelchair, in a bid to ease the struggle disabled people havewith movements and maneuverers, having been inspired by the wheelchair used byworld-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. The three students from Dong Nai TechnologyUniversity in Dong Nai province also demonstrated on stage how their robot candouble as a bed for the user to lay or sleep on. The robot can also lift orlower the user, within a certain level, so a user can easily move from therobot chair to his bed without assistance. The chair is also outfitted with a robotic armthat can hold a water bottle or hand over clothing to users. The machine caneither be manually controlled via a control panel or an app on a smartphone ortablet. This thoughtful creation has deservedly earnedthe first prize worth 15 million VND (670 USD) in the 2nd VietnamMaker Contest with Intel Galileo 2016 (VMIG), which came to an end lastweekend. The contest was jointly held by the Centre forVietnam Youth Talents, Science and Technology (CYTAST) and Intel Vietnam, underthe auspices and guidance of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST),Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCM CYU), in a bidto promote the young generation’s creativity and spike their interests inscience and technology – which ultimately is expected to contribute to thedevelopment of a high-tech economy in the nation. The contestants made full use of Intel’sEdison platform – which, with the Intel Edison board at its core, aims atmaking it easier for hobbyists and inventors to develop consumer electronicdevices, especially the Internet-of-Things devices, which is the current hottrend in the tech world. In the six months beginning in June 2016,the nation-wide contest drew some 110 ideas from 29 universities and academies.Of these, 42 teams – each comprised of a maximum three students and one teacherfor guidance – were selected to enter the preliminary round, in which they hadthree months, with one Intel Edison board and 2 million VND, to bring theirideas to reality. Sixteen best creations from 14 universitieswere eligible to enter the final round. The contestants’ inventions covered a widerange of fields, from education, health, agriculture, environment,transportation, and urban planning. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Secretary of the CentralCommittee of the HCM CYU, said he was impressed by the “inventive spirits” ofthe young contestants. “Aside from the creativity and passion topursue their dreams, from these creations the contestants have exhibited asense of responsibility for the development of the country. Importantly, youhave shown care and compassion for the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups insociety,” he said. “And that’s a valuable quality because, afterall, inventions have to be practical and bring benefits to society.” The two second place prizes went to iGloves –a product from HCM City University of Science team, which can convert signlanguages into Vietnamese speech, and a heat-vision camera from the HanoiUniversity of Science and Technology team, which detects and gives warnings viasmartphones about people with abnormally elevated body temperatures – which isoften a tell-tale sign of sickness. Other notable productsinclude a pesticide-spraying robot, back massager shirt, a system that monitorsworking conditions, such as temperature and air quality for workers infactories, a system to provide users with bus routes and other information, andis able to give warnings when theft is detected.-VNA