A schoolgirl’s design for a backpack that may filter air to guard individuals from air pollution and airborne illness has gained a nationwide innovation contest.
Eleanor Woods was introduced with a real-world incarnation of her product in London over the weekend, having gained over judges with a hi-tech satchel that “looks cool, will help get kids outside, and fights off colds”.
All that and it’ll nonetheless carry her textbooks, stationary and homework.
The 12-year-old, from High Burton, Huddersfield, mentioned the inspiration for her Breathe Better Backpack got here from her mom’s bronchial asthma, which she was particularly conscious of in the course of the COVID lockdowns.
“I have an air filter at home because my mum has mild asthma,” she mentioned, including that it was additionally designed to assist mates and classmates keep protected.
“My generation is really aware of pollution and we have lessons on it at school along with diseases spreading.
“This is another excuse I designed this, as a result of it’s getting a lot worse.”
‘I can style the petrol’
Eleanor, for whom local weather activist Greta Thunberg is a “big role model”, mentioned she will be able to “taste the petrol” outdoors when strolling to high school from her dwelling on a essential street.
She drew up her resolution when her mum, Annabel Hobbs, 58, put a Backpack To The Future type in her room.
Her creation is powered by photo voltaic vitality and a dynamo, which is a machine that converts mechanical vitality into electrical vitality, and has a built-in filter and followers to scrub the air.
It’s blue and embellished with bubbles, which Eleanor mentioned gave the backpack a “clean theme”.
“If just a few people start using it, it could be really good for the planet,” she added.
The Backpack To The Future contest was a partnership between the Institution of Engineering and Technology and trend model Hype.
It was launched to encourage extra variety in engineering and present kids how they will mix an curiosity in trend with careers like science and know-how.
Source: information.sky.com”