Personal tragedy has inspired a Curtin student to invent a digital device to enable the therapists of tomorrow to better diagnose and treat injuries.
“The measuring tool therapists use now hasn’t been redesigned for 40 years,” second year physiotherapy student Hayley Warren told Curtin News.
“I have invented a new tool to measure angles of the body in a much better way.”
Ms Warren and her prototype HALO device appeared on ABC show The New Inventors on September 1.
HALO did not take out the top award on the night, but the invention is in the running for the program’s people’s choice awards.
Ms Warren told the judges that the ruler-like device currently used to measure joint movement in injured patients sometimes makes it hard to get an accurate reading.
“(This) means a patient may be released from hospital either too early or too late,” she said.
“HALO is digital (so) it minimises human error and measures the joint range with complete accuracy.”
Ms Warren told Curtin News that one of her three prototype devices was named after a former life partner who died two years ago.
“I’ve had a few experiences in life – like losing a partner – that have driven me on,” she said.
“The project’s dedicated to him … and it keeps me motivated to make sure this product becomes successful.”
Ms Warren said she picked up some tips from more experienced inventors with whom she shared the ABC green room before her segment was shot.
“It was an amazing experience just meeting the judges and the host James (O’Loghlin) and the other inventors and I’d do it again in a flash,” she said.
“There’s so many facets to inventing.
“I’m new and learning it all – but some of the inventors in there had done it all from patenting to commercialisation.”
When contacted the morning after the show aired, Ms Warren said she had already received about 100 emails – including several orders for HALO which she does not plan to release until February.
Anyone wishing to vote for HALO in the people’s choice awards, can do so until midnight Saturday, September 3 at http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/.
Details of Ms Warren’s invention are available at www.halotherapyequipment.com.
