Braeview’s wearable technology designs win them Strathmore Trophy 2014
Published On Mon 23 Jun 2014 by Grant Hill
A team of pupils from Braeview Academy have won the University of Dundee’s Strathmore Trophy 2014 after impressing judges with their designs for wearable technology.
They beat off competition from 14 schools across eastern Scotland at the event, which took place at the University’s Queen Mother Building on Monday, 23rd June. Teams of four from the S2 age group competed against each other in a challenge set by staff at the University’s School of Computing. This year’s teams were asked to create wearable technology using Arduino, an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software.
Wearable technology can be used for many reasons, including fitness, fashion and research. The pupils were given two hours to create wearable technology, from the initial concept through to a prototype using Arduino and a kit which included a t-shirt, lights, wires and potentiometer.
The winning Braeview team members are Dylan Flood, Jacob Piorko, Jack Mackey, and Andromeda Gibb. They were presented with their trophy by Euan Headridge, BCS Chartered Institute of IT – Tayside and Fife committee member.
Jack said, “Our teacher, Mr Vosser, said he liked the idea of a wearable technology t-shirt for going to discos. That’s how we first came up with the idea for a t-shirt that displays images of the surrounding environment. Eventually we realised that by displaying these images, the t-shirt could create the illusion that the person wearing it is invisible.”
His team-mate Dylan added, “Being crowned the winning team is pretty awesome.”
The Strathmore Trophy competition, now in its 16th year, is held annually by the School of Computing to get local school pupils thinking about how applications of computer technology can help people. The challenge sees hundreds of youngsters from Tayside, Fife, Aberdeenshire and Stirlingshire take part, and enjoys sposorship from Strathmore Water (Barr Soft Drinks) Forfar.
This year’s event was organised by Dr Iain Murray, Daniel Herron, Anne Millar and Dr Rachel Menzies, who said, “At present, 8 million people in the UK wear technology on a day to day basis. Such wearable technology includes activity-tracking devices and different types of clothing that incorporate computer or electronic technologies. An example of the popularity/increasing awareness of wearable technology includes the recent press coverage of Nicole Sherzinger at a 4G. The singer wore a ‘twitter dress’ that displayed tweets from various followers.”
The schools taking part this year were:
• Arbroath High School.
• Beath High School.
• Blairgowrie High School.
• Braeview Academy.
• Craigie High School.
• Crieff High School.
• Dollar Academy.
• High School of Dundee.
• Harris Academy.
• Kirkcaldy High School.
• Lochgelly High School.
• Mackie Academy.
• Montrose Academy.
• Perth High School.
• Wallace High School.
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Grant Hill
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University of Dundee
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