Schoolgirl wins national award for unicorn toy design to comfort sick children and monitor vital signs

A schoolgirl whose engineering talents were discovered at the city's university has won a national award for her children’s hospital invention which helps to both comfort children and record their vital signs.

Francesca Mobberley's Unicorn Health Bot (Unibot) design features a horn which contains electronic sensors to measure heart rate, oxygen levels and temperature, all while providing a playful distraction for the child.

The talented eight-year-old's design first came to prominence last year (2022) at the the Primary Engineer annual Leaders Award competition, ‘If You Were An Engineer, What Would You Do?’ 

The regional competition was hosted by the University of Sunderland at its David Goldman Technology Centre, St Peter’s Campus.

After being crowned regional champion, Francesca went on to beat off competition from tens of thousands of pupils across the country as her design was awarded one of three gold medals at the Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal Award Ceremony in London.

The national competition celebrates children's innovative designs and the people who have turned their ideas into reality - in this case the University of Sunderland.

To celebrate the return of this year's regional competition to the city's university, a prototype of the unibot design was unveiled for the first time.

The design was brought to life by University of Sunderland Electronic and Electrical Lecturer Dr Abdu Shaalan and Associate Head of the University’s School of Engineering, David Knapton and was submitted as part of the national competition bid.

Francesca was also given a smaller 3D model to take home with her.

Dr Knapton said: “The idea demonstrates the importance of engineering technology solving problems in other sectors and enabling ideas from the classroom to become a reality is a privilege.

“We used technologies from industrial monitoring proven through our research together with experience in product design to enhance Francesca’s idea.

"The result is an interactive toy that can monitor patients’ vital health statistics and transmit results to medical staff on a hospital.

"This can improve patient experience and comfort.”

After the design was awarded a gold medal, Dr Knapton said: "We are thrilled that our hard work has been recognised and presented with this award against a high level of competition.

“We are thankful to Francesca for the idea. It is pleasing to see the future of engineering is in safe hands and impressive to see a range of such inventions to solve real world problems – many of these were on a sustainability or healthcare theme.

“As for the future of the Unicorn Health Bot, there are so many areas this could impact on future research, and we hope soon to be able to test this more fully.”

While developing the prototype, David and the team worked closely with colleagues from the University’s Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute.

Head of the institute and Professor of Health Services Research, Yitka Graham, said: “I was delighted to have a further opportunity to work with the University’s School of Engineering to support the Young Engineer project by arranging a focus group with the Young Person's Group at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

"Together with Abdu, we presented the prototype and collaboratively explored ideas with the Group, getting first-hand feedback from potential service users to help refine the design and explore wider potential for use across a range of healthcare settings.

“I offer my deepest congratulations to the team for their well-deserved gold medal."