Two students from Vietnam National University have however created a unique tool called "Magic Spoon" which could help Parkinson's patients eat despite having tremors.

According to a report in The Star quoting Vietnam News, 21-year-old Đặng Hải Ninh and 20-year-old Nguyễn Đức Kiên, from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), incorporated engineering, Internet of Things, data analysis and machine learning in their invention.

Beating the competition

The device, won the duo the first prize at the IEEE SEACAS Hackathon 2019 – an annual science and technology competition organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - Circuits and Systems Society (IEEE CAS) for students, trainees and graduate students from Southeast Asian countries.

The competition which was jointly held by the IEEE CAS and the Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing had participants from Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Nguyễn said that at first the two of them were set on making a tool to monitor heart rate and check the health of the elderly but decided to change their approach after learning about the competition's main topic.

The topic was to help the elderly with their daily activities, including bathing, maintaining personal hygiene and improving mobility.

Đặng suggested that they make a 'magic spoon' to help people with Parkinson's disease pick up food and eat with ease.

A spoon like no other

"It's hard for people with tremors and Parkinson's disease to feed themselves. With this special spoon they will be able to eat without support from others," said Đặng.

Nguyễn said that 'Magic Spoon' identifies the tremors in older people based on multi-dimensional sensors and uses artificial intelligence to aid its response to movements.

The tool can even go a step further by recording hand vibrations that can be kept in a database and displayed on mobile phones.

The product is currently being finalised for a follow-up contest.