What came first - the interest to participate in the Red Bull Basement competition or the theme of your project?
The theme of the project came about long before we knew about Red Bull Basement. We originally came up with the idea for a smart mouse pad at a hackathon on Smart Health. We entered the competition because it was a great opportunity for us to get mentoring.
Can you describe your project with which you participated in the competition?
Our project focuses on the prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) when working on a computer. Statistics show that one in ten computer users will get CTS and three in ten people who work on a computer every day will experience wrist pain. Our Wrest smart mouse pad aims to help with the task of preventing CTS. The pad, along with a PC app, monitors the position of the hand on the mouse and alerts the user if their hand is in the wrong position or working for long periods of time without a break. The app also includes wrist exercise guides.
That sounds amazing, do you still remember how this idea came about?
My colleague Vasil is studying medicine at the 3rd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University and during his studies he assisted in carpal tunnel syndrome operations. From studies we found out that even working with a computer mouse brings a risk of developing CTS.
Is there any similar technology that would have a similar preventive effect?
No other device on the market can track the position of the user's hand on the mouse. Unfortunately, there is no pill or ointment to cure carpal tunnel syndrome. However, limiting repetitive movements, taking regular breaks and exercising are effective preventions. We know this from studies carried out, for example, at the Mayo Clinic or ETH Zurich. Our mouse pad is unique in that it gives the user feedback on how they are using the mouse and also guides them to improve their work habits with breaks and exercise. In practice, it will help the user to learn and practice the exercises.
How did you and Vasil Kostin get together in the first place?
Vasil and I have been friends since elementary school. After high school we didn't keep in touch much until Vasil approached me if I wanted to join him as a programmer for a hackathon. And smart technology in healthcare sounded like a cool topic. So we put a team together and went to the Global Smart Heath Hackathon, which was held at IKEM.
Are you satisfied with the result from Istanbul? How was your innovation received?
At the Red Bull Basement finals, we placed in the Top 10 projects among teams from 44 countries. Among those 44 projects were ideas with great potential for positive impact, and I believe that everyone who made the Top10 will continue to develop their project. The whole final exceeded our expectations and what we took away from it was mainly experience and contacts. The access to mentors was the most beneficial part of the whole event for us. We were also interviewed by Forbes Czechia in Istanbul, which is a huge success for us. In general, the feedback on our product was positive, and we were also positively evaluated by Marcus Kennedy, Gaming Manager at Intel, who also offered us mentoring after our presentation.
Do you plan to develop your project further?
Certainly. We are still working on the project after Red Bull Basement. So far there are only two of us, which makes it more difficult to combine the development of the project with our studies. That's why we are looking for more team members who would like to gain experience working on a real project. We are working with everything from programming a multi-platform desktop application, data processing and visualization, firmware and hardware, to 3D printing and pad fabrication. We're happy to work with other students to help us improve our product and get it out to users.
You participated in the competition with a aim to get mentoring. So the goal is fulfilled. What are you going into mentoring with?
At the moment we are mainly looking for mentoring regarding production. We can make prototypes ourselves, but we don't have the experience in designing for mass production or the means to produce the Wrest pads in large quantities. So we are looking for a mentor or partner to help us with this area.
You're studying Open Computer Science 2nd year masters. How did studying at FEL help you to achieve this success?
The courses within my study major (Human-Computer Interaction) helped me a lot. I can definitely recommend the User Interface Design and Psychology in HCI courses to anyone interested in product design, whether digital or physical. I learned that we need to test our hypotheses with real users and how to test properly. Besides, my experience in the commercial sphere helped me to achieve this success. It was great to combine my studies with a job in the Master's program, where I could put my knowledge from the lectures into practice.
