Bulgaria hosted the first technology marathon in Europe, TOM Makeathon, which brings together engineers, designers, innovators and people with special needs in creating solutions for a better life. The event was held on April 20-23 in Sofia at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG), which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. The participants had 72 hours to design and produce 6 working prototypes to help people with special needs. The budget for each team totaled BGN 200.
What kind of problems have been solved during TOM Bulgaria?
Rado is a student in first grade, suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, but is full of energy and extremely active. He uses two electric wheelchairs, one to sit in and the other to drive in an upright position. What has been invented for Rado is a combined wheelchair for the two positions, with which he can change his position from sitting to upright position.
Every day Milena uses a particular route to go to work. She chooses sloped sidewalks, avoids stairs and high curbs, because she cannot keep her balance and is afraid of falling. Using a virtual reality, the team has developed an assistant training device to complement her rehabilitation practices for keeping balance and weight center control.
Silvia and Anita are blind. They find it difficult to distinguish the value of different banknotes. The special sign for the visually impaired people is barely distinguishable, especially after being touched by thousands of hands after long use. For them, a portable device has been invented to pronounce the banknote’s value when touched.
Vanya uses an electric wheelchair and because of the fact that she needs to be seated for most of the day, she suffers from discomfort and pain due to the posture. For her, a seat cushion has been created, which has options for various degrees of softness and hardness, which are easy to change depending on the particular need.
Milena has problems with her lower and upper limbs. She needs a 24/7 assistance when moving. An aid facility (a type of exoskeleton) with lockable joint has been created for her, allowing her to walk unassisted. The amount of the facility is not more than BGN 120.
The sixth solution is related to a technological solution, which allows deaf parents to know if their children need them when they are in another room.
All these solutions will be published on the website of tomglobal and anyone with similar difficulties will be able to download the plans and to benefit from the inventions.
The Awards
The jury, which consisted of representatives of the academic circles, non-governmental sector and business, 
considered it a great challenge to award the prizes, as all teams managed to work brilliantly and to create efficient low-budget prototypes within 72 hours. The prizes include a variety of opportunities for the teams to continue their work: office space, 10 hours 3D printing, Factory 360 mentoring, SmartFabLab, IDLab and healthy foods by Harmonica. Three projects were awarded with a Gold Ticket for the Reach for Change contest “THE CHANGE”; another three received a 75% scholarship for the Academy of Social Entrepreneurs.
Together we can achieve a lot – the organizers of TOM Bulgaria believe and are extremely inspired by the incredible participants who took part in the first edition of TOM and are looking forward to the next event.
