TEDnesday Talks: "My Simple Invention, Designed To Keep My Grandfather Safe"

How lives can be saved with socks.

At Student Edge, we like to keep ourselves up to date with all the latest innovative ideas in the world of technology, education and design. We also love puns. So, over Wednesday lunch, we watch TED talks. Thus: TEDnesday.

This week, we watched 16-year-old Kenneth Shinozuka speak of the problems he's faced in caring for his grandfather and how he's used technology to develop a unique solution. (This was recorded November of 2014.)

Check it out!

Let's talk, TED.

So, would an app receiving signals from a sock-situated sensor be the most efficient way to alert carers of their wandering patients? Possibly not. As Kenneth himself asked, what happens when the patient doesn't want to wear socks? Couldn't you spend a fraction of the price and give them a bell to wear around their wrist?

Maybe it's not the ideal solution but it's good to see a genuine attempt to solve a wider societal problem. Not only that, Kenneth made the important decision to get his idea out into the real world for testing and feedback; a great way to learn quickly about the challenges his solution faced.

With the cost of technology getting cheaper, information becoming more accessible and a growing number of options to crowd-source funding, innovative technological solutions are more achievable by the day. With the rate that ideas are being generated by students today, we may be able to avoid a future where hordes of sock-wearing grannies roam our streets at night.

Would this idea work? Can you think of better solutions? Could this same technology be used elsewhere? Let us know in the comments section below!