Four McMaster students have been named national runners-up in the prestigious James Dyson Award competition.
Future engineers Maria Akhtar, Jocelyn Kuntsi, Cate Prince and Shayaha Jeyaseelan were named Canada 2024 runners-up for their app invention ‘WheelBeats’.
The national winners and runners-up from the Americas will progress to the next stage of the competition with the international Top 20 shortlist selected by Dyson engineers in mid-October.
Wheelbeats is a progressive web app that centralizes accessibility information for event venues, increasing access to live events for individuals with impaired mobility and physical disabilities.
The inspiration behind the project stemmed from recognizing the challenges faced by a wheelchair-user when planning for such outings.
“Having an impairment disability makes event attendance stressful due to the lack of clear accessibility accommodations from venues. WheelBeats eases this stress by consolidating and clarifying mobility access details, removing this significant barrier,” the James Dyson Award website states.
The project prioritized a “user-centric approach”. As part of their research the students contacted venues for accessibility information and created an intuitive interface that adhered to
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act web standards.
They also ensured inclusivity and ease of access for all users.
The students said that they hope their project will make a “tangible difference in the lives of individuals” and “allow them to plan for and attend concert and sports events with confidence and ease”.
Kate Price, who is in her second year of mechanical engineering, hopes that WheelBeats will eventually include more than just venues and events.
“It’s obvious that not only venues are inaccessible structures, there’s restaurants, malls … anywhere can be difficult to get around,” she says.
The James Dyson Award celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. Global winners of the competition will be announced on Nov. 13.