Young scientists at the exhibition are always full of good ideas, none more so than Stephen Church who has developed a new supermarket scanning system for the visually impaired. It gives directions, lets the person know what products are adjacent to them, identifies items and even scans them in even before reaching the tills. Dick Ahlstrom reports.
The idea for the project, which he calls ScanMan, arose after watching a programme about the difficulties faced by blind people trying to shop, explains the 16-year-old fifth year student from Confey College, Leixlip, Co Dublin.
It would suit anyone with reduced vision or those with reading difficulties and could even help if you left your reading glasses at home.
The system does not use bar codes, it relies on RFIDs, radio frequency identification tags, explains Stephen.
These send a weak radio signal that tells the receiver carried by the user what the individual product is. "It carries much more information than a typical bar code," he says.
The receiver picks up the signal and provides an audible voice signal delivered via an ear piece worn by the user.
It gives specific details about the product held by the user and if wanted can be scanned in at that time.
Small transmitters at the ends of every aisle also give information through the earpiece telling the person the types of goods found along that aisle and what is close by as the person moves along the rows of goods.
Stephen bought all the electronics needed to build a working prototype and did all the coding and software to connect them together.
"There is nothing like this for visually impaired people anywhere," he says. He has not been approached by any manufacturers yet but believes it would transform grocery shopping for those with visual difficulties.
Three fifth year students from Sutton Park School, Dublin came up with another very clever idea, a tsunami protection system. It gives early warning of an impending tsunami but also includes designs for "retreat centres", towers that get people up above the incoming waves.
"We wanted to limit life loss and develop an early warning system," explains Enda Hannan, 16. He and Maximiliaan Van de Poll (17), and Robert Palminteri (17) collaborated on the project.
Current warning systems can give up to six hours warning, but are often ignored because they can give up to 80 per cent false warnings, he says.
Their system gives five to 10 minutes warning but is very accurate and would give time enough for people to retreat to high buildings or their proposed escape towers.
The very inexpensive system is based on a hollow tube fixed in concrete and placed some distance off the shore, Maximiliaan explains.
The tube has a magnetic switch at the bottom and ball carrying a magnet floats inside the tube. Approaching tsunami waves cause sea levels to fall suddenly, something that would cause the ball to trigger the switch and set off an alarm.
The team looked at a number of tower designs, each of which could hold 200 to 300 people, Robert says.
They found a tower base with a conical shape was the best for withstanding the incoming rush of water. The tower itself is wired to the warning system and flashes a light when people should retreat to the tower's raised platforms.