Epileptic woman creates device for seizures

Uma was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 11. Since then, she has been admitted four times to the hospital due to seizures. Some of her epileptic attacks occurred in places where no one knew how to help her.

That inspired her to invent Cocoon, a device that protects the head from injuries during a seizure. It is portable and includes first-aid instructions for bystanders.

The device is mainly aimed at patients who have an aura, visual symptoms caused by a focal seizure, right before the tonic-clonic seizure, which involves the whole brain and at which point the patient loses consciousness.

So, when the user experiences an aura, they can use the Cocoon to protect themselves before the full-blow epileptic attack occurs. The device is very fast to unfold and opened up. Then the user simply has to rest their head under the mesh. It keeps the user’s head stable on an anti-suffocation pillow.

Uma calls the invention an ‘epileptic safe space’.

Inside, it has a sensor which detects the start of the convulsion. If after three minutes the seizure persists, it automatically calls an ambulance using IoT technology. It also has a GPS which informs family members about the coordinates of the patient.

Thanks to her invention, Uma has earned the James Dyson Award. The prototype now needs to pass medical testing and approval by the FDA before it can reach the market.

Adapted from: http://bit.ly/2NEVdCX
http://bit.ly/2PNzDPo

More info: https://www.umasmith.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT5YrIXEWsE&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YizZuUCDnS0