Student-design ‘smart shopping cart’ wins STEM competition for rural elders to promote Age-Friendly City

The Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies (APIAS) of Lingnan University (LU) in Hong Kong recently organised a STEM-design competition for secondary school students to develop gerontechnology products tailor-made for rural elders to improve their quality of life. Pui Shing Catholic Secondary School students’ “smart shopping cart”, equipped with an infrared-based, automatic motion-tracking system that helps seniors transport a large amount of goods with less effort, won the Overall Championship Award and the Age-friendly Innovation Award.

A part of the Jockey Club Age-friendly City Project: Rural Neighbourhood Development Project 2 funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust which aims to build an age-friendly community through activities and promotional works, APIAS’ STEM product design competition attracted 12 teams from seven secondary schools to join. All teams attended STEM preparation courses and visited rural elders to experience the difficulties they face in daily life.

During the competition, prototypes, mock-up models or project proposals submitted by the teams were assessed by a panel comprising members from the STEAM Education and Research Centre of Lingnan University, co-organisers and senior volunteers, to compete for seven awards.

“Lingnan University has been promoting active ageing to heighten the knowledge of an age-friendly city in the community through district-based programmes,” said Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Vice-President of Lingnan University. “We encourage collaboration among older adults and students to jointly develop STEM-related products in order to better respond to the needs of the rural elders. We also aim to promote care and respect between the older and younger generations to enhance intergenerational exchange.”

The award presentation ceremony will be held in early July 2021.

Results of the competition are as follows: