Krithik Ramesh, a 16 year old boy from Colorado, USA has just won first prize (and $75,000) at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with a spinal surgical navigational tool where more than 1,800 teens from 80 countries presented their inventions and projects.
Krithik came up with the idea whilst trying to improve his score at a dance video game; he started thinking about how it tracked his movements and compared them to the perfect moves. This made him think about what else that technology could do and six months later he came up with an idea which could help surgeons operate on the human spine – at only 16 years old!!
Krithik explains: “I was wondering if I could apply the same motion-tracking system to radiology”. His idea was to train a computer to predict how spines and the tissues around them move over the course of a surgery, so the patient would only need to have one image, such as an MRI or CT scan, before the surgery. For the project, he used about 32,000 images to teach the computer, which could then build three-dimensional images of any spine given to it. He used augmented reality software and the Microsoft HoloLens headset to project an image over whatever the wearer is looking at. Obviously clinical trials are needed but it is a very exciting concept.
However, what I find more amazing is that this is not his first invention; last year he entered the same competition with an invention to do with aeroplane wings and in the in sixth grade he was trying to put solar panels on window blinds! Having travelled to the USA many times and having been to a Washington State High Schools Science and Engineering Fair with my family it is quite amazing and we could learn a lot from the opportunities given to children in the USA and there is certainly a lot of talent around.
