How Science Helped My Grandmother's Life Extend

As an "engineer," the first memory was building my lovely grandmother a voice projection unit to help her in an emergency. My grandmother's health was deteriorating faster than a formula one car. She suffered from a 12-year kidney failure; it had grown into a full-blown organ failure, rendering her bedridden almost daily. I will never forget a day I went home after my ninth grade quarterly exams. My saccharine lady was lying in her bed in agony, hurting, reminded that she could lose her life in the room, and no one would notice. The moment I entered the room, her face lightened up, but I knew something was wrong. I had heard my grandmother's vulnerable voice cry to my aunt, saying, "what if no-one hears my voice at night in an emergency? 

I knew I had to do something; else, we could wake up one day to have the late grandmother, having been too late to react to her conditions. I had immersed significant electronic engineering knowledge, learning from my grandfather. Now, I spent the night hatching a plan to help my grandmother and aunt communicate during an emergency if it ever came to that. I could not figure out the best way to help my grandmother respond if she ever needed a split second emergency alarm. We could not trust her with mobile phones because she was unable to use one on a normal day. It hit me! I had spent too much of my childhood watching engineering videos, and I orchestrated a solution for it.

The next morning, I took a buzzer for an old 90's verbalizer set and bought transistors and a microcontroller. I programmed a loud calling noise utilizing the microcontroller, amplified the sound virtually triple the pristine clamor, and commenced soldering in the speaker's circuit board. Later that evening, I mounted the speaker in my aunt's room and a versatile switch in my grandma's room, where she keeps her head while slumbering. I taught her how to utilize the switch in an emergency.

To my surprise, it saved her life three months later, after a cardiac attack. My amateur engineering had saved a person's life! I felt like a superhero and was so blissful about it. Sometimes I spent around a whole day trying to make up my idea in the garage, forgetting to eat, and it just reminded me how much I love the work.

However, the Grandma Emergency System, as I liked to call my invention, wasn't the only thing I had done to showcase my love and interest in engineering.  I find this creation the most consequential one I ever made because I feel success is defined by what we did for the people, not by the money or complexion. The life-saving invention was an insignificant part of many other systems I had made, including a five-foot-five pulley system crane I made in an 8th-grade science fair that could lift 125 pounds or an RC gyroscopic motorcycle I gifted to my brother's 12th birthday. My grandfather is the man I credit for my engineering interests and prowess because he gave me the first tools to experiment with; a battery in third grade, which he intimated that it could be applied in uncountable ways. With all enthusiasm, I started connecting the battery terminals to every tool and equipment I got. Finally, there was this cuboidal metal piece with rotating gear on one side; it was a motor indeed. It initiated rotation when I linked it. For me, it was nonpareil prosperity at that time, making me super ecstatic like the Archimedes found the laws of hydraulics!

Science, to me, is ongoing experimentation of life-changing experiments and innovations. I believe that I have the mindset and capability to save lives and utilize machine learning to make the world better. Engineering is my love, my interest, and something that keeps me going.