DSCAX

Akos Simon

Akos Simon is a product designer from Hungary. Since a young age, Akos has had an interest in the inner workings of products and a keen mind for the latest in technology and design. His passion for design only grew as he got older which eventually lead him to pursue product design as a career. Throughout his college years, Akos developed his problem solving, communication, iterative design skills, and Interaction design skills. Akos showed his ability to perform well in teams by receiving first place in the Bolton Trust Student Enterprise Competition. Akos also represented TU Dublin in Stage Two in Berlin where he and his team were semi-finalists.

PSAid

Prostate cancer is a problem that affects millions of people worldwide. One in seven men will experience prostate cancer in their lifetime. PSA or prostate specific antigen is a chemical found in blood that is a key indicator of the presence of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer patients do not monitor their PSA levels regularly enough. This is due to the high price, unwanted complications, pervasive social stigmas and a number of physical symptoms, such as incontinence, which makes it difficult for prostate cancer patients to attend doctors’ appointments.

PSAid makes this process quick, affordable and allows the user to complete it in the comfort of their own home. This gives the user the ability to monitor their PSA levels more closely, and provides them with personalised results, based on their age, race and other external factors. This decreases their likelihood of developing metastatic prostate cancer. The PSAid device uses a colour light sensor to analyse a drop of the user’s blood for the amount of PSA present and makes this information available to them in an easy-to-read format which is viewable on their mobile device. This data will also be available to view by the users’ physician through an online web portal. By making the process of assessing PSA levels easier, patients can more frequently take readings of their PSA levels and thereby increase the number of data points to give a clearer overview of the users’ health. PSAid is more sustainable than existing solutions on the market as it can be reused and does not need to be shipped to an external laboratory to evaluate results. It will also take some of the stress off the already overburdened healthcare system by keeping patients out of hospitals.

PSAid has the honour of receiving first place in the Bolton Trust Student Enterprise Awards and were semi-finalists in the Stage Two Enterprise Competition. In addition, PSAid took part in TU Dublin’s Iventure Accelerator program.

Headsmart

CTE or chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a neurological disease that is caused by repeated impacts to a person’s head. This is a growing concern among those who engage in combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts. It is estimated that a quarter of retired boxers show symptoms of CTE. There are currently no cures or remedies for CTE which means that preventative measures are very important for athletes to forestall the onset of this debilitating and oftentimes deadly disease.

Headsmart is a smart boxing headguard which aims to empower combat sports athletes and give them back control of their own health. It does this by monitoring the amount of head acceleration that they receive and gives them an insight into the level of damage that they are subjected to. To achieve this, Headsmart uses an onboard accelerometer attached to the back of the headguard to measure the acceleration of the head and transmits this data to the user’s mobile device. The user can set his daily and weekly allowances for head acceleration which allows them to limit the amount of head damage they receive. From this, they can make informed decisions regarding the number of sparring rounds that they engage in or limit the intensity of those sparring rounds. This will benefit both the users and their couches by reducing the overall injury rate of gyms.

In addition to the health benefits, Headsmart will also allow athletes to prolong their careers by preserving their ability to receive damage without being knocked unconscious. A large number of professional combat sports athletes have their careers cut short due to the impacts of cognitive decline which affects their reflexes, their ability to perform in training and most importantly their mental health.