A system to help the visually impaired wins the grand prize in the Lépine competition

This distinction, which rewards the best inventions each year, rewards glasses equipped with a camera, connected to a belt.

The Lépine competition, which rewards the best inventions, awarded its most prestigious distinction, Friday May 10, to the six creators of glasses equipped with a camera and connected to a belt to help visually impaired people. “Artha France”, developed by Amaury Buget, Gabrielle de Puysegur, Rémi and Wandrille du Chalard, François Outters and Zacharie Nataf, comes in the form of a pair of glasses equipped with a mini-camera which transmits visual data in tactile sensations via a lumbar belt.

Concretely, the images filmed by the camera are translated, thanks to the lumbar belt, into the user’s back by impulses which allow the visually impaired or blind person to have a more precise perception of their environment. For this invention, chosen by a jury of 46 people, the winners were awarded the President of the Republic’s prize, in the form of a porcelain vase from Sèvres, a house in operation since the 18th century near Paris.

The second prize for an economical shower

Second prize in the Lépine competition was awarded to Simon Buoro and Antoine Escande for the “Ilya” cyclic shower which reduces the water and energy consumption of a shower by up to 70% thanks to water recycling. The system offers two operating modes: a “classic” mode where the shower functions like a classic shower and during which the user washes with “a flow limited to 6 liters per minute” and a mode “closed circuit”where the water used is collected, filtered and disinfected, maintained at a temperature allowing the shower to be extended for many minutes.

The third prize, the connected universe prize, was awarded to Benoit Mirambeau for an application entitled “Patrimoine Tour” which highlights the “micro-heritage” local. The application offers free audio guides, videos and illustrations detailing places, monuments, architecture, artists, towns and villages. Benoit Mirambeau won the President of the Republic prize in 2016 for an application intended for diabetes patients.

This year, 250 inventions were presented in the Lépine competition, told Barbara Dorey, director of the competition. During its long history, the prestigious prize, founded in 1901 by the police chief Louis Lépine, has rewarded the inventors of the ballpoint pen, the lawn mower and the potato masher. In 2023, the first prize was awarded to the inventor of “Dreeft”, a wheelchair braking system.