LONGREACH Lifesaver Bazooka Wins 2010 James Dyson Award

Over the past few months, we’ve been covering somenoteworthycontenders for the prestigious James Dyson Award for student design innovation. This week, the global winner was finally announced – the LONGREACH Buoyancy Deployment System, best described as a lifesaver bazooka.

The Australian entry, brainchild of industrial design student Samuel Adeloju, presents a portable system for drowning victim rescue via a rapidly deployed water-activated buoyancy device made out of hydrophobic, instantaneously expanding foam. The sytem allows victims to remain afloat until rescue personnel reaches them and pulls them to safety.

The easy-to-operate device can be propelled nearly 500 feet and is equipped with a light attracting attention to the victim’s location.

Adeloju takes home a £10,000 grand prize matched by an equal sum awarded to his department at the University of New South Wales.

Maria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings, a curated inventory of miscellaneous interestingness. She writes for Wired UK, GOOD Magazine, Design Observer and Huffington Post, and spends a shameful amount of time on Twitter.