Customizable scoliosis brace that grows with patients wins 2022 US James Dyson Award

This year’s American James Dyson Award winner, Sangyu Xi, created a new kind of scoliosis brace. The “Invisalign” of scoliosis braces, Airy, is a breathable, comfortable, and adjustable brace that can be set up at home with a unique installation guide. Airy is adjustable to accommodate patient growth for up to three years and includes access to an app to track wear time and healing.  

The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. Each year a national winner is selected and receives a cash prize. In addition, runner ups are named and all three inventions move to the next round of the award to be considered for the top 20 list comprised of the best inventions around the world. 

The Problem

Impacting 7 million Americans per year, scoliosis is a lateral curvature in the spin that often occurs before puberty. It’s so common that students around the US are often tested for scoliosis in school. Despite this, advancements in the braces used to treat this medical condition have not been changed since the late 1950s. Common braces are bulky, inflexible and can take a long time to manufacture. Because scoliosis is often diagnosed in teenagers, the stark, bland appearance of the very noticeable braces can deter highly impressionable, young patients from wearing the brace as often as they should. 

The Solution

Airy overcomes the typical scoliosis brace's limitations of long-term fabrication, low patient compliance and non-recyclability. It is an off-the-shelf brace that can be adjusted to match a patient’s future growth for up to three years. The exterior color of Airy can also be modified or padding can be removed to make it translucent, allowing young patients to wear the brace confidently. After treatment, patients can donate the brace to third-world peers, or the brace can be recycled up to 10 times since no glue is used in the manufacturing process.

To help improve compliance with scoliosis brace patients, a worn time monitor has been used in recent years. Not only does Airy feature a worn time monitor, but the monitor is linked to an app, allowing physicians to track patient wear time and progress. The app also allows physicians to communicate with patients in real-time on any adjustments to treatment plans.

Since creating Airy, a prototype has been tested on four teen patients at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Feedback was extremely positive, according to Sangyu, with the patients noting they preferred Airy over their current braces. In the future, Sangyu hopes to continue patient trials to continue to prototype Airy’s design. Sangyu plans to use the James Dyson Award prize to bring on a machine learning engineer to further develop the Airy app, and an orthopaedic mentor to help bring Airy to market. On being the US National Winner, Sangyu says she hopes this recognition is a reminder to scoliosis patients that their voices are being heard.

About the Inventor

Born and raised in Chengdu, located in Central China, Sangyu’s passion for design began at an early age. “I found myself [able to] concentrate when doodling on paper,” Sangyu says. “I could easily spend seven to eight hours in the [design] studio.” While she always had an interest in design, she decided to start her time at University studying computer science. It wasn’t until a visit to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City during her undergrad where she decided to make the switch to design.

“That’s the first time I began to accept that design could be my job… I could do what I really love and be respected.” Sangyu was drawn to the co-op program at the University of Cincinnati because of the opportunity to gain real-world experience, and during her senior year capstone project, Airy was born.

Sangyu was inspired by her mother’s work in medical device sales and always knew she wanted to use her design skills to create something that could help someone “have a different life.” During a discussion with a professor, Sangyu learned about the testing process for scoliosis in US schools and decided to research further into the condition. After discovering the limited advancements in scoliosis brace design, she began designs for a new kind of brace.

• Problem: Approximately 1.6 million people are living with vision impairment. There is no way for people with vision impairment to currently use and read a pregnancy test without sighted assistance. This means to learn their pregnancy status, they are forced to compromise their privacy and autonomy. ​
• Solution: Apt is the first standalone pregnancy test that can be used without sighted assistance. The process to take the test is the same as existing pregnancy tests, but after a short wait, an innovative mechanism translates the result into vibrations, which can be felt when pressing a button on the device.​
• About the Inventors: Eunah Kim, Leandra Tejedor, Mengzhu Chen (Katie) and Saloni Bedi are recent graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They developed Apt during MIT’s Integrated Design and Management Program. To learn more about Apt, visit the website here.

• Problem: Pesticide pollution causes 200K deaths per year. Only 2% of sprayed pesticides reach its target as most of what is sprayed bounces off plants due to their natural water repellency. ​
  
• Solution: AgZen-Cloak is a spray system that uses plant-derived oils to cloak sprayed pesticide droplets, enhancing spray retention and enabling 5-fold reductions to spray waste.
• About the Inventor: Vishnu Jayaprakash is a recent graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) PhD program and is now the CEO and Co-Founder of AgZen. To learn more about AgZen, visit the website here.

[1] National Scoliosis Foundation

[2] International Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment

[3] Antonelli, M.G. et al.: AN INNOVATIVE BRACE WITH PNEUMATIC THRUSTS FOR SCOLIOSIS TREATMENT In: Design & Nature and Ecodynamics. vol. 5, 2010, no.4, s. 357.