A wearable device for visually impaired people won the National Prize of the 2016 Alfredo M. Yao Intellectual Property Awards (AMY National IP Awards). The winning invention is a system which allows visually impaired people to detect and evade obstacles. The evasion system comprises a microcontroller-based embedded design that can measure the distance to the near objects through the use of ultrasonic by generating high-frequency sound waves and evaluates the echo which is received back by the sensor created by Engr. Jon Alvin Macariola, and former Computer Engineering students Raven Tabiongan, Ma. Corazon Curiano, Chilla Uy, Bryan Garabilis, Arwel Royandoyan and Leean Ilao.
Among the entries submitted for this year’s competition, only four (4) entries were qualified for presentation under the Collegiate Category before a panel of judges from Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
The AMY National IP Award awards Filipino-owned intellectual properties that have contributed or have the potential to contribute to economic development and social awareness. Only entries which has been certified novel by way of patent search conducted by the Innovation Technology Support Office (ITSO) or by IPOPHL, has commercial potential, social impact and environmentally sound and sustainable are qualified to join the competition.