 The BraunPrize for 2005 has been awarded to Jens Andersson from Sweden for his design “Rescue Buoy” - a swimming robot in the form of a lifebuoy.
The other four International BraunPrize finalists were Australian Greg Scott’s ingenious Yolk headgear for skiers and snowboarders, Canadian Lynn Borneman Animal Factor which monitors the health of a horse during strenuous activity, Chinese Wa Yao’s Mesh Editor, a mobile space-planning tool to facilitate the rapid creation of light and safe large-span structures and Brazilian Adriano Galvao’s Easy-XM which simplifies and reduces the amount of time required to take blood from patients.
Rescue Buoy is a swimming robot in the form of a lifebuoy. It assists lifeguards by monitoring a stretch of water in order to identify potential rescue situations early on.
 How it works: Lifeguards are able to spot when someone is in trouble from the shore, but once they are in the water often have difficulty finding the right location. The lifebuoy solves this problem by capturing the situation and contacting the lifeguard on the shore, enabling him to plan an appropriate course of action. If necessary, it will swim to the relevant spot and serve as a buoyancy aid until further help arrives. The buoy is designed to be used as part of a team of buoys covering a whole beach, each one monitoring a 150-metre section. In addition to danger from drowning, the buoy also helps protect beach users from coastal winds and shark attacks.
The benefits: The lifebuoy represents a new phase in robot applications: it locates the danger, clarifies the situation and solves the problem at hand, thereby saving human life.
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