Most Grade 12 students spend their final weeks of high school studying for exams, planning graduation parties or thinking about summer.
Allen Guo-Lu and Luotong Shi spent theirs building a robotic tail.
The Calgary students developed a wearable device designed to help people living with Parkinson’s disease maintain their balance and avoid dangerous falls, a challenge that affects thousands of Canadians every year.
“It’s our last year in Grade 12, so we were like, ‘Why don’t we try to kind of give back to the community?'” Shi told CBC Radio’s Calgary Eyeopener.
“This was one of the ways that we thought of doing it.”
The invention is a battery-powered wearable tail equipped with sensors that can detect when a person becomes unstable. When that happens, the device acts as a counterweight, helping the wearer regain balance before a fall occurs.
“It essentially works kind of like the idea of a spine where there is several pieces that you can attach and the tubes act as tendons,” Shi said.
Their idea has already earned recognition beyond the classroom.
In April, the pair won the University of Calgary Chancellor and Senate Award at the Calgary Youth Science Fair. Their project also advanced to become a finalist at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Edmonton.
The need for solutions is growing. According to Parkinson Canada, at least 120,000 people in Canada are currently living with Parkinson’s disease, a number expected to rise above 150,000 by 2034.
Many people associate Parkinson’s with tremors, but balance problems can be just as challenging.
“It’s one of the most disabling features of Parkinson’s, because they can lead to really serious injuries and sometimes even hospitalizations,” said Ko Currie, director of research programs and partnerships at Parkinson Canada.
“If they get really bad or very frequent, it can lead to a loss of independence, accelerated decline.”
For Guo-Lu and Shi, what started as a science project became an opportunity to tackle a real-world problem that affects thousands of families.
And while most students leave high school with a diploma, these two are leaving with something else as well: a potentially life-changing idea designed to help people stay safe, independent and on their feet.
Read more from CBC.
