Salem students win regional STEM competition with creative dementia tracking device

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What if people with dementia could wear a device powered by body heat that tracks their health and sends information remotely to caregivers?

A group of Salem elementary school students had that idea — and have won the regional round in a national science competition. 

Uriah Molly, Mari Truong, Teddy Thomas and Gustavo Lopez, all students at the private Heritage School in Salem, will advance to the final phase of ExploraVision, a yearly science, technology, engineering and math competition that empowers youth to solve everyday problems with creative solutions. 

The device is called Lost Then Found. Thomas, who’s in second grade, came up with the name because it represents the ability to find a person with dementia who is lost and may need help. He enjoyed working on the project because the group wanted to “help the world” while learning about dementia.

The students initially designed a robot that performed different daily tasks for the person. They replaced the proposal with the current design because it was more original and “it’d be kind of weird having a robot that follows you around everywhere,” Thomas said. 

They also initially designed a thin layer attached to a person’s skin — like a tattoo — that sent information to caregivers in real time but then decided against it because the discussion “led to people who were tattooed in a harmful way against their will” and the team “didn’t want to repeat history,” according to the project proposal. 

Lost Then Found is a “micro-patch” placed between a user’s shoulder blades that provides instant location tracking using quantum position technology and shares the user’s location with caregivers or medical personnel through an app, according to the proposal. Its underside has tiny “micro-suckers” — like octopuses — to stay in place. It can be decorated on the outside with a variety of patterns designed by the group.

Although the device is fictitious, the group had to create a large-scale prototype using classroom materials to demonstrate how it would work. Students also had to create a slideshow analyzing the history of personal location devices, explaining their proposal with drawings and descriptions, outlining their design process, explaining the drawbacks and benefits of their proposal and creating a sample website to promote their device. 

Several of the students have stories of dementia in their families. “My great grandma had dementia and it was very hard for (the family) to take care of her,” Thomas said. 

Truong, a second grader, also shared that her cousin’s grandmother has dementia. “It’s hard for my cousin knowing that his grandma could be lost at any time,” she said. 

The group worked well together and divided the tasks evenly, Thomas said. Every week each student had to suggest improvements and designs for the group to adopt. Lopez, a fourth grader, was not able to meet with Salem Reporter but his teammates said he designed the top layer of the device and came up with features “that everyone agreed with.” 

The group is excited to keep improving the website and logo for the device they have designed, Thomas said. 

Truong’s favorite part of the project was designing the “octopus suckers” and internal circuits. The suckers are “sticky and very small” so they attach easily to the person’s skin and the circuits are flexible and can bend easily, she said. Truong also designed some of the lights incorporated in the device. 

Molly, a fourth grader, enjoyed working on the copper wires and polyester materials that connect each part of the device “because I got to just squiggle around.”

The group learned they had won the regional competition when the coach, Maureen Foelkl, contacted their parents to announce it. They each won a Chromebook as a prize for winning the regional competition and advancing to the final, which will take place in Washington D.C. The national winners will be announced in May. 

It is the second year the students participated in ExploraVision. Last year, students at Heritage School proposed scientific solutions to everyday problems like harmful weeds and illnesses.

Contact reporter Alan Cohen: [email protected].

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