The Egyptian winner of the Geneva Invention Fair reveals the secrets of his superiority

In parallel with Egypt's endeavor to provide treatment for patients with muscular dystrophy, the Egyptian young man, Abdel Rahman Omran, continues his achievements by creating an electric wheelchair to help patients with quadriplegia that is controlled by the movement of the head.

The chair has safety means that prevent the patient from colliding, and a final model has been developed and implemented that is controlled by brain signals while avoiding the percentage of errors for patients with complete muscular atrophy.

the beginning

The son of Aswan Governorate in Upper Egypt, who graduated from the Faculty of Computers at the Naval Academy, said in his interview with Al-Ain News that he was able to overcome the lack of oxygen that happened to him during childbirth and affected some cells of his locomotor system, which resulted in his delay in walking, He continued to crawl until the age of five, underwent 8 operations at the age of six, after which walking became possible while continuing physical therapy until about the age of thirteen.

school and education

Imran went back to the primary stage, saying: “I had a great passion for computers and science, and in the computer class, the teacher of the subject was afraid of devices from the students, and the subjects were taught to us in a theoretical way only, so I complained to my father and he did not neglect the complaint and actually went to the school and registered He objected, and I became the only student to enter the computer lab and use the device, and I learned how to operate it and work on it.”

My love for science and the inventors’ scene always encouraged me, and made me wish to become like them. I had a strong curiosity, which pushed me to open any device I saw in front of me. I even visited an electrical repair shop so that I could see its owners repairing them.

He added: "I was exposed to a situation that I will not forget for the rest of my life when I obtained the primary certificate, and I was the first in my governorate and was honored by the governor, and I got a laptop and deleted the (My Computer) icon by mistake when I used it for the first time, and I imagined that I spoiled the device, so I went to a young man who was studying at a college. Engineering, and I told him what happened and he laughed a lot, and at that time I felt that I had not learned enough, so I began to dig deeper in the field of computer and programming and study electronic and other courses on the ground.”

start of his project

Omran says: “I had an idea for a wheelchair for muscular dystrophy patients, which I have already started to implement, and I wanted to test it by submitting to the Intel ISEF competition, which is interested in scientific research, through which I learned about the meaning of research and how to convert the information I owned into a study. I've won the competition for years and it makes me sad."

He added: "I did not give up and joined the Upper Egypt competition affiliated with the engineering faculties in Upper Egypt and participated in my project and a computer operating system that I also created. I competed in this competition with students of engineering faculties, after I refused to be an honorary presence. I found myself competing with hundreds of innovative students, and the surprise was that I I won and got first place on the Egyptian Engineering Day, and that was the real start, as it represented a lot to me to win over the students of engineering faculties while I was still a student in the first year of secondary school.”

He pointed out that his story spread in the newspapers, and the Minister of Social Solidarity contacted him and honored him and directed him to the Arab Organization for Industrialization nearly 6 years ago. Lieutenant-General Abdulaziz Seif El-Din, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Authority, received him and admired the project and convened a technical committee to discuss it by specialists, and then he was directed to Qader Factory for Advanced Industries To support him financially and technically in the production of the chair.

And about his project, "Omran" revealed that it is an electric wheelchair to help patients with quadriplegia that is controlled by the movement of the head, and it has safety means that prevent the patient from colliding, and a final model was developed and implemented that is controlled by brain signals while avoiding the percentage of errors for atrophy patients. full of muscle.

Representing Egypt abroad

The 23-year-old added that he was nominated by the Academy of Scientific and Technological Research to represent Egypt at the Geneva Exhibition of Innovations and Inventions, and there he received the gold medal in the field of embedded systems and was honored for it after his return from the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

Omran explained that during the competition entitled “Cairo Innovates,” he passed the first stage and qualified for the finals. The qualifications took place among more than 1,000 innovators over the course of a year and a half. From the chair to the market.

He explained that after high school, he received a scholarship at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in the field of "computer science".

After entering the university, he was also interested in the field of entrepreneurship and turned to develop himself and participated in the "Arab Rally" competition, a competition for entrepreneurship at the level of the Arab world, and he represented Egypt and achieved second place at the level of the Arab world.

During the university period, he participated in a competition belonging to the "younodel", which was affiliated with the wadwany foundatio, an Indian institution concerned with teaching entrepreneurship.

His project won first place in Egypt and the Middle East, and the project was classified as one of the top 3 pioneering projects presented in the world.

He added that his graduation project from the Academy was a computer "mouse" to help quadriplegic patients that is controlled by head or eye movement and has the advantage of executing voice commands. It also works on any operating system, whether "Windows, Mac or Linux", and it works on Mobile phone and smart screens.

his achievements

Omran received the Creativity Award from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the Shield of Excellence from the Military Technical College, and the Goodwill and Peace Ambassador from the United Nations Global Conscience Organization, and he was honored by UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

The young man won the title of Egypt’s first innovator in the “Cairo Innovates” competition of the Academy of Scientific Research, and first place in the world at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions in Switzerland, and won first place at the level of the Republic on the Egyptian Engineering Day 2015.

It also won first place in the field of embedded systems in the "Intel ISEF" competition.