Great Idea: Wii Remote Applications

http://tinyurl.com/6shbwwk 

           I am fortunate enough to go to a pretty well-off high school, where my teachers and I have access to state-of-the-art technology and equipment that aids my learning. However, there are many other people and school around the world that do not have nearly as much funding or access to technology as students of my high school do.  This begs the question: is advancing technology really at its full potential if it only benefits a select few? This is exactly the phenomenon that Johnny Lee observed about technology, and he found a way to help solve the problem.

       

              Lee discovered a very unusual and brilliant way to utilize the technology inside of a typical Wii remote controller. Located inside this relatively inexpensive and accessible piece of technology is a high quality infrared camera that has a plethora of possible applications. Utilizing this $40 remote control, Lee created software that can be used to create interactive whiteboard with multi-touch capability (something that I’m not even sure the Smartboards at my high school do). Just attaching the control to a projector creates a device that usually sells for hundreds of dollars; it’s truly amazing. As if that weren’t enough, he used the control to create a cheap way to view images in 3-D, which could revolutionize the video game industry.

          

              Finding a way to take the best that advanced technology has to offer, and make it accessible to as many people as possible is going to be a mindset that takes all of humankind of high levels. It’s important to remember that better technology has to be available to as many people as possible in order for it to truly benefit the human race, and by remembering this, Johnny Lee created a great idea.

Great Idea: The Universal Anesthesia Machine

http://tinyurl.com/77wvhwk

            

            This next idea is sort of the cousin of my previous post about the Water Canary. Seeing a problem that affects the poorest and most vulnerable areas in the world, and finding a way to tailor a device to actually excel in such poor conditions is a brilliant accomplishment; and this next group of people took this idea to the next level.

           

            Erica Frenkel studies health systems in the poorest countries around the globe, identifying and working to find solutions to the most prominent and pressing problems found in these systems. One of the most common (and most horrifying) problems she discovered was the lack of access to safe surgical procedures in these areas.

            

            One of the biggest issues behind this problem was the lack of access to safe anesthesia. In these areas, there aren’t trained technicians to operate complicated anesthesia machines, which leads to failures and complications that causes the most horrifying and terrible tragedies imaginable.  Another problem in these areas is the expensive price tag on these anesthesia machines, which leads to difficulties when repairs are needed, as well as the unreliability of a stable power source, which leads to machine failures. These problems all seem like mountains to conquer, but Erica Frenkel’s along with her colleague Dr. Paul Fenton found a solution: the Universal Anesthesia Machine.

            

           Dr. Fenton had been the chief of anesthesiology at a teaching hospital in Malawi, Africa. Atfer suffering through dozens of patient’s deaths and anesthesia machines failures, he decided enough was enough. He found a room full of broken anesthesia machines, and with a little tinkering created the Universal Anesthesia Machine. The current, revised model is a simple device which can deliver anesthesia with the help of an untrained operator, and can continue to function even through a power outage thanks to an onboard power reserve.  This machine is even less expensive than the traditional machines that have shown to be unsafe in the hospitals of the developing world. This machine hasthe potential to save millions of lives and stop the tragedies that occur around the world due to unsafe surgery, and is therefore and incredible idea.