14 Aug 2014
Loughborough graduate’s £250 incubator could be life-saver in disaster zones
An inflatable incubator for disaster zones that costs just £250 has put a Loughborough University graduate in the frame for a major international design award.
The incubator, aimed at saving the lives of new-born babies in refugee camps, is the brainchild of James Roberts who entered it for the 2014 James Dyson Award which boasts prize-money of £90,000.
Costing a fraction of the £30,000 of a normal incubator, MOM has attracted plenty of interest and been named as one to watch by some commentators.
The incubator is inflatable, light and portable, provides stable heat and humidification, jaundice lighting and can run off a car battery for 24 hours.
James, who has just graduated from the Design School’s BSc course in Product Design & Technology, is approaching different organisations in a bid to make the design a reality.
The 22-year-old from Surrey said: “I hope to get the invention picked up by both charities and investors so that the design can be further developed from a prototype into a real product.
“I would love to see an idea that I personally worked on maybe save the lives of children who are less fortunate than I am one day.”
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