C2I 2021 Young Innovator Winner: Fall-proof innovation

Category: Young Innovator

Winner: Fall Alert

Partners: Freddie Howells

Category Sponsor: STFC

GCSE student Freddie Howells found inspiration for his winning innovations through observing health issues faced by both his great aunt and grandfather, both of whom have suffered with dementia.

Back in 2019, then aged 14, Howells won the C2I Young Innovator award for his facial recognition door entry system, which he developed at the age of just 12 to protect his great aunt Pat from unwanted visitors alongside a suite of home monitoring technologies.

Howells told The Engineer how, as the disease progressed in his elderly relatives, they both began to experience falls more frequently.

“My aunt was living happily on her own and had a Carelink pendant, which requires the wearer to press a button to call for help should she fall and be unable to get up,” he said. “However, due to her dementia, she was unable to remember to press the button when she fell and would lie there unassisted, sometimes for several hours prior to the carers arriving.”