HYDERABAD: Fourteen-year-old Hemesh Chadalavada has been chosen as one of the recipients of Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar-2021 for his astonishing innovation — a wristband that monitors the whereabouts of Alzheimer’s patients. Speaking to Express, the young innovator and the only child from Telangana chosen for the award this year, said, “My grandmother has been suffering from Alzheimer’s for the last few years.
I have grown up seeing her struggle. There were times when she would suddenly go missing from my home. We would find her wandering on the streets. Since then, I had been thinking of developing a device that could help both people suffering from Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.”
Hemesh has been working on this innovation for the last one year, and the multipurpose device has won him accolades across the country. Explaining how the device works, the Class-IX student said, “The smart wristband can keep track of the patient’s pulse and BP, and can send an automatic alert to the caregiver and doctor concerned, in case of any abnormality. The device also has a GPS, which helps give updates to the patient’s caregiver of his or her whereabouts.”
The 14-year-old Hyderabadi, who has always been keen on learning electronics, said, “Since the age of 10, I have been working on innovations. I would watch multiple videos on YouTube and learn about different electronic devices. I would dismantle small devices and try to reassemble them.” Hemesh was given a new direction when an Atal Tinkering Lab was set up in his school a few years ago.
“I learned a lot here, and displayed the first prototype of my smart wristband to my teachers, for which I got a lot of recognition,” he added. Stating that he is grateful for the award, he added, “I am still working on my innovation, and once it is done, it will be of great help to my grandmother and others like her.”