A new device has been created by 11-year-old William Grame from Canberra, Australia that can hygienically store used blood test strips of diabetics and properly dispose of it once a week. The student won in a recent nationwide competition for his 3D printed device and a trip to the U.S. to visit NASA.

Grame developed the device that works as a disposal unit to store strips throughout the day and let the user dispose wastes after it fills up. The device can fit inside the portable test kit of diabetics and can store about 50 test strips.

Grame has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which he said inspired him to create the diabetes test-strip disposal device. The student, from St Edmunds College, presented his invention at the recent Origin's nationwide littleBIGidea competition in Sydney.

Diabetics use test strips regularly to check their blood sugar levels by pricking a finger and placing a dot of blood on the strip. The process may lead to improper disposal of the used strips, as Grame mentioned his experience of constantly getting in trouble for failure to dispose the strips properly.

"I always get into trouble for leaving my blood test strips around the house because I have to test my blood up to 10 times a day, which adds up to lots and lots of test strips," he said. However, Grame highlighted on his presentation that about 380 million people have diabetes across the world who are using test strips regularly, some as frequent as at least a few times a day.

The diabetes test-strip device would be "important to diabetics because they always get in trouble for leaving their test strips everywhere," he added. Grame designed the blueprint of the 3d-printed device, and the judges said that it would be easy to be in commercial production.

However, Grame said that he hopes no one would use the device. "My dream is for someone to find a cure for diabetes, so no one will have to use my invention," he stated.

Grame was among more than 850 students from year 3 to year 8 who joined the competition. He won the year 5 to 6 category. Other winning inventions include an AirBag Alarm that can automatically alert authorities to help victims of vehicular accidents on rural and remote roads and an alarm system on babies’ seats that works by detecting hot temperature inside a car to prevent babies from dying from heat strokes.

“It was a tough job judging so many creative entries from students across the country," said littleBIGidea competition ambassador and judge James O'Loghlin, former host of The New Inventors. He described all the inventions as not only original and creative but also practical and innovative.

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