Mexico. For the second year, Epson was part of the awards ceremony for history channel's "An Idea to Change History" initiative. At the gala, held in Mexico City, they presented $140,000 in recognition of the winning projects.
"An Idea to Change History" is an initiative created by the History Channel in order to highlight the ability of human beings to create and transform their environment, aimed at generating a positive impact. During this project, the organizers took on the task of seeking and publicizing the ideas of Entrepreneurs in Latin America with projects that can have a positive influence and that can have a significant social impact on current and future generations.
The jury that determined the winning projects is made up of personalities from various areas, including technology, entrepreneurship, science, economics, health, among other disciplines.
This year, the winning project was HandEyes, a robotic support device for people who are blind or have limited vision. The tool, developed by Diego Antonio Aguinsaca from Ecuador, has as its main function, to generate sounds that develop the ability of echo location of people. Through a scanner, HandEyes detects objects within the person's immediate space and generates a sound, allowing the user to locate objects around them immediately. The device can be attached to the cane, on the flap of the shirt, on the lenses or even on a user's cap.
The Bloco project, by Leonardo Melo, from Colombia, won second place. Bloco is a wood-fired oven that, in addition to fulfilling the functions of cooking food and providing heat, dries wet firewood in the rainy season. It also reduces the percentage of harmful material produced by burning firewood, as well as Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. The furnace also has ceramic filters that prevent solid particles resulting from combustion from spreading in the air.
The creditor to the third place was Luis Mario González, from Mexico, with his Carbon Dioxide Absorber (CO2) Solar Filter, which retains the polluting particles of this material. The Absorber system is composed of various levels of filtration that stop from the largest particles such as dust and garbage to smog, pollen, bacteria, among other unwanted particles. As a result, an air purification device with superior efficiency is obtained.
"Part of Epson's vision as a company is to support innovation and disruptive projects that enhance the capabilities of participants. ' An Idea to Change History' is particularly an initiative with which we identify, as it seeks to find ideas that improve the quality of life of human beings, which is part of our philosophy as a company," said Alberto Arredondo, General Director for Mexico and Director of Channels for Latin America.
