The app works by and the current GPS location of the user up to five pre-selected contacts. It is a “panic button” that allows the user to get support via text, phone call and GPS location.

Hannah was dealing with depression and anxiety, after being diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and then being bullied.

Kelli was bullied and suffered from anxiety and depression, having also had suicidal thoughts. That’s what led her to come up with a solution.

“Because I was bullied so hard, my anxiety started getting a lot worse,” she said. “I didn’t want to do anything, I didn’t want to hang out with my friends, I didn’t want to meet new people because I thought they weren’t going to like me and I was going to have new bullies. It controlled my life”, she explained.

Mylo, still a 3D printing prototype, consists of a unique and inclusive games controller built to help disabled people improve their mental fitness and dexterity levels by people video games.

Kylah was driven to create this solution when, after a study abroad trip in Costa Rica, she had some difficulties passing through the U.S. customs due to her disability.

"So when I was coming through the Atlanta International Airport, they asked me what country where I was coming from. And I stuttered on Costa Rica. Because it’s always been a hard thing for me to say."

The innovation uses sonar technology that helps to track distance, which is translated into data and then a signal is sent to the device, letting the user know they’re close to an object.

Chuy’s condition has been deteriorating and so Michaela wanted to help.

“I decided to make a memory book for my granddad who has dementia and Alzheimer’s, which has gotten worse since he was diagnosed six to seven years ago,” she explained.

The book has no more than two photos on each page, combined with statements on it that state who he is, who is the wife of nearly 60 years is and who the people in the book are.

The innovation works by being attached to a car seat and detects, using sensors, the temperature and the presence of the child in the seat. It also has a fan that blows cool air until parents and authorities are notified.

The first prototype was made of clay, and then of plastic, created using a 3D printer.

Bishop launched a crowdfunding campaign to further develop his product. Now he has the support of Toyota and he already patented the invention, which he hopes to sell for 50 USD.

Siara’s work allows her to explain herself to other people, and has also helped with some daily challenges, as she is sensitive to light, heat and struggles with maintaining eye contact.

After the surgeries, Gardyan, who was a high school student, had severe and painfully intense headaches.

His doctor advised him to take notes after each headache: he had to describe the pain, how long each headache lasted and how many pills he took. But it was hard for the boy to take notes manually because he had headaches, sometimes, every three minutes.

The prototype is called Umpees and was developed while Laura was in college. The device can take pictures, record footage or sounds which then can be played back or printed.

The student also created this invention thinking about other dyslexic kids, as it encourages children to learn, be creative and share their experiences.

Leo was inspired by the hand tremors he saw in the soldier in Vung Tau, Vietnam, where he grew up. These people struggled with Parkinson’s disease after being exposed to Agent Orange, a herbicide that was used by the USD during the Vietnam war.

“Of course, I didn’t know what was causing it. Later on, when I was growing up, I knew it was Parkinson’s because of the herbicide chemicals that they were exposed to”, the inventor explained. Coming from a background in vibration control, this led him, in 2014, to think of a solution.

Dialysis is “a treatment for kidney failure that removes waste and extra fluid from the blood, using a filter,” says the National Kidney Center. It’s used when the kidneys are failing the body, as in the case of diabetes, high blood pressure or glomerulonephritis (chronic inflammation of the kidneys), explains the National Health Service. It and can take about four hours per session.

Shogo was assisted by a team of researchers from the university after Kenichi had most of his tongue surgically removed. As he was no unable to speak, he asked Shogo to help him by creating a new prosthesis that would allow him to speak.

The professor started working on the challenge by looking into existing tongue prosthesis and only found one paper about the subject, in Japan, in which the artificial tongue was part of a denture and could not be moved.

Rufus got to know these students thanks to the prosthetics team at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, who reached out to USF to find out if they would be able to come up with a grip so that the veteran would be able to swing a club.

Using 3D printing technology and after a lot of trial and error, and after taking measures regarding Rufus’ weight and movement (while not putting undue stress on other parts of his body), the team invented a prosthetic grip has to bind the hand and club in just the right way.

“It’s my first year in a school that takes part in a project that integrates students with visual impairments into public schools. We have three students, and from daily interactions with them I was very curious and had a lot of questions. What letters they use, and how they communicate with others. I was amazed by the size of their large books. This motivated me to learn more about their world and search for answers", the young girl explained.

The students came up with a solution that works by attaching a 3D printed plastic pad to Julian’s violin bow, which he grips before attaching a Velcro strap to hold it in place.
Julian always wanted to be a violinist in the school band. While learning how to play, he was able to pluck the strings but it was harder for him when he had to use the bow, playing faster and crossing all the strings.

That’s when his teacher stepped in and started looking for solutions to help him hold the bow in an easier way.

Cruz had an accident when he was 5 years old - he was riding an escalator at an Arlington, Texas mall when his index finger got caught, and so severely injured that it had to be amputated. The boy dreamed of being a baseball player and the finger he lost was on his throwing hand, which even made the incident more difficult to deal with.

The experts told his family that traditional prosthetic finger wouldn’t be a proper solution for his problem because those devices were too rigid, breakable and expensive to replace.

Emil was born premature after a case of pre-eclampsia, weighing only 1400 g. He had difficulties learning how to walk. So, his mother Fie started reading everything about motor skills, talking to experts, etc. She set out to invent a range of clothing (and other accessories) that could help improve her son’s motor skills. Fie created crawling tights, crawling leggings, crawling kneepads, etc., for children from 0 to 18 months. The products can be bought online.

Diamo was born in 2003 and had a difficult birth, which led him to suffer from cerebral palsy and quadriparesis. He passed away in 2012. The child had very little head control and required extensive treatment to eat, sit, etc., which meant he had to have a lot of orthotic braces, gators, hand splints, a second skin night garment, etc. Getting the right orthotics was the biggest challenge. The boy couldn’t eat properly as he couldn’t sit up straight, he kept slipping off his seating system, these included his chairs and wheelchairs.

The 3D printing frame and lens can help detect signs of degenerative eye disease and works with an AI smartphone app.

Kavya started this project when her grandfather began exhibiting symptoms of diabetic retinopathy in his eye. Her aim is to create a test that is a cheaper, and a more accessible eye care alternative for patients with diabetes.

“The lack of diagnosis is the biggest challenge. In India, there are programs that send doctors into villages and slums, but there are a lot of patients and only so many ophthalmologists”, she explained.