BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Reacting to Parkinson’s Disease

By Omar Reyes, age 16 | January 27, 2023

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HOLDING STEADY Friends Omar Reyes, Saheb Nibber, and Mihir Relan (pictured, from left, at the 2022 Diamond Challenge Semi-Finalist Summit held at the University of Delaware) worked together to develop a glove that Parkinson’s patients can use to offset hand tremors. Omar and Saheb are juniors at The Awty International School, and Mihir is a junior at Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions.

My friends Saheb, Mihir, and I have seen firsthand the limitations that hand tremors place on the daily lives of our relatives with Parkinson’s disease. We were determined to make a difference in the lives of our loved ones and find a solution.

The idea for our anti-tremor glove, the ReactGlove, came from a desire to use technology to help those with tremors regain control of their hands. We spent countless hours researching and testing different designs, eventually settling on a prototype that uses sensors and microprocessors to detect and counter tremors in real-time. Our product perceives when an individual’s hand is experiencing movement and the intensity of the movement, and it counteracts that specific tremor to stabilize the hand back at zero.

During the development process, we faced numerous setbacks and challenges. With little experience in robotics and coding, we taught ourselves how to create projects with an open source electronic prototyping platform called Arduino. We spent time testing different hardware designs, manipulating Arduino codes, and learning from various mentors.

Finally, after months of hard work, we had an MVP, a minimum viable product. We were thrilled to see the ReactGlove in action, even in a limited capacity. Our work was recognized at the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston by NASA and the Harris County Medical Society in February 2022.

Our efforts were further rewarded by our participation in entrepreneurship competitions. Through events such as the University of Delaware: Diamond Challenge, SAGE Competition, and RoundPier Entrepreneurship competition, ReactGlove received more than $3,000 in funding. We are currently finalists for an $11,000 grant from the Paradigm Challenge. We would use these funds to refine and improve the ReactGlove prototype, taking the MVP to the next level.

Saheb, Mihir, and I are incredibly proud of what we have achieved with the ReactGlove. In the future, we aim to finalize and launch the product on the market. We are thankful for all the support we have received and look forward to the next chapter of ReactGlove.

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