The hour-long programme called ‘Out & About in Ireland’ will be broadcast on Sky TV Showcase Channel 201 this coming Thursday, January 26th, at 9.00pm and repeated on Sunday at 10pm and Monday at 11pm.
The television package will discover how three fifth year students, Luke Benson, Donnchadh Barry and Paul McDonagh, along with the help of their technology
teacher, Declan Askin, developed ICollapse, a mobile phone application that assists people suffering from various conditions that may cause them to collapse.
“It’s an idea we had been developing since Transition Year. We had been brainstorming about different types of apps. Then there was a lad in our school with epilepsy and we were wondering how we could help people like that.
"We experimented with different ideas and then we came up with ICollapse, which uses accelerator technology already found in mobile smart phones. We did a lot of testing, measuring different types of falls and guarding against false alarms and we eventually got the balance right,” commented co-inventor Paul McDonagh.
Massive achivement
The three Castlebar students took their app to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2012 in Dublin and claimed second prize in the senior category of the technology section as well as winning the prestigious Google Trailblazer Award.
“We are so proud of the boys. It’s a massive achievement. We are so happy that our students are interested in the medical technology sector as that’s where so many jobs are in Ireland right now.
"We offer a lot of science and technology based subjects here at St.Gerald’s and it’s great to see the students’ innovation, creativity and skills been applauded like this,” commented St. Gerald’s Principal Sean Burke.
The entire show can be viewed on SKY TV channel 201 or on Freesat 403 this coming Thursday, January 26th at 9.00pm or alternatively you can watch the show online at www.irishtv.ie
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