FORT WORTH, Texas, March 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allied Electronics, a trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE: ECM), was pleased to present the prestigious Gadget Freak of the Year award to Andrew Morris at the Golden Mousetrap Awards Ceremony, held as part of the Pacific Design and Manufacturing Show in Anaheim, California on February 11, 2104. Allied has been the exclusive sponsor of the UBM/Design News monthly Gadget Freak contest for over a decade.
Morris's invention, titled "A Gadget's Call for Assistance," is a device that translates a stroke patient's groan into an audible signal, alerting on-site aides that help is required. The underlying principle is based on a 30-year-old answering machine that could listen for gaps and brief interruptions in sound in order to differentiate between a dial tone and a human voice.
"I designed this gadget because a woman had been referred to me whose husband had been paralyzed by a stroke," Morris said, "and was unable to call for help in an easily audible manner. This made it difficult for his live-in caregiver to get a good night's sleep, as she had to sleep with 'one ear open.' This device solved her problem."
"What I love about Andrew's gadget, aside from the ultimate potential to really help people when they need it most, is the evolution of inspiration that lead to the final design," said Gabriel Reichmann, Allied's Customer Marketing Manager and the presenter of the award. "There is something almost profound in the fact that only when he stopped to hear the silence, could he finally find the victim's voice. It's these unexpected, almost counterintuitive, discoveries that make technology such an exciting field in which to participate."
Design News holds a monthly Gadget Freak contest in each issue of their magazine. Winners of the monthly contest receive a $500 award.
For the first time this year, the twelve winners went head-to-head in six rounds of semifinal competition, with four gadgets in each round. Readers voted on each round, with Morris's entry taking the top prize. "In my opinion, my gadget is not necessarily any better than any of the other gadgets, from a technical standpoint," Morris told Design News. "I think it won because it helps a paralyzed man. Your votes have shown that toys are cool, but it's really about helping other people. That's the coolest thing of all."
About Allied Electronics
Allied Electronics is a small order, high service level distributor of industrial automation and electronic components with 48 sales offices serving the United States, Canada, and Mexico. With more than three million products online and 115,000 products featured in the Allied Catalog, engineers and purchasers often look to Allied for a broad range of product solutions from over 300 world-class suppliers. Allied Electronics and RS Components are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc (LSE: ECM), the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products headquartered in Oxford, England. www.alliedelec.com
Find Allied Electronics on Facebook: www.facebook.com/alliedelectronics
Follow Allied Electronics on Twitter: @alliedelec
About RS Components
RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products. With operations in 32 countries, RS offers more than 550,000 products through the Internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, shipping around 44,000 parcels a day. Products are sourced from 2,500 leading suppliers and include electronics, automation and control, test and measurement, electrical and mechanical components.
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