Taiwan last week topped the medal table at a global invention competition, finishing with a total of 45, Taiwan’s Chinese Innovation and Invention Society said yesterday.
At the annual International Salon of Inventions and New Technologies on Monday last week, Taiwan won 31 gold medals, 11 silver and three bronze, with inventions ranging from sports applications to healthcare devices, the society said.
While Taiwan bagged fewer medals than last year’s 50, its gold medal count increased to 31, compared with last year’s 29, and the nation finished at the top of the table with 45 medals, it said.
Photo: CNA
One of Taiwan’s inventions that won gold was a healthcare device that Matthew Ma (馬惠明), vice superintendent of National Taiwan University Hospital’s Yunlin branch helped to develop, the society said.
Without contact, the detection device monitors a person’s heart rate and breathing via a camera, with sensors transmitting data to an artificial intelligence center that analyzes their condition, it said.
Another notable entry to the virtual contest in Crimea, Ukraine, was a sports training device invented by a university team that was led by retired Taiwanese basketball player Hsu Chih-chao (許智超), who was once the nation’s top midrange shooter in the Super Basketball League.
The device can be used for a range of sports, serving as a warm-up machine for competing athletes or a training device for weightlifters, for example, said Hsu, who now teaches at Hungkuo Delin University of Technology.
The contest typically draws contestants from across the globe and lasts several days, with the submissions displayed at exhibition centers, but, due to COVID-19, this year’s event was held virtually on one day in Sevastopol, the society said.
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