World famous inventions of Vietnamese

Aviator smart wheelchair

Aviator smart wheelchair technology, an innovation of Prof. Hung Nguyen, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney (Australia) ranked third in the top 100 of Australian innovations in 2011.

Aviator was developed at University of Technology Sydney in the form of two wheelchairs, TIM (Thought-controlled Intelligent Machine) and SAM (Semi Autonomous Machine). The system directs and controls the chairs' navigation by reading users' head movements and brainwaves.

Professor Hung Nguyen said that the Aviator project is significant in its potential to impact the broader Australian community.

"I'm interested in research outcomes that can assist people with illnesses and disabilities to achieve greater independence, and the Aviator technology does exactly that," said Professor Nguyen, who also developed Hypomon, a non-invasive diabetes monitoring system.

"This research is significant because we now have the opportunity to apply the same technological approach to other disability aids. In future we may be able to use it help people with a range of tasks in their everyday lives, and adapt it so that it can be applied to different types of disabilities."

New crystalline lens for visually impaired

A Vietnamese-American doctor has invented a new kind of crystalline lens that allows people with eye diseases to go without glasses. The Medical Board of California has recognized the invention, which is called AcrySof Restor IOL Lens.

It is the work of Dr. Randal Pham, or Pham Hoang Tanh, the first surgeon of Vietnamese origin inducted into the prestigious American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer in laser surgery of the eye and its related structures, particularly the eyelid and the face.

The AcrySof ReSTOR IOL is a multifocal intraocular lens that was approved by the FDA in March 2005 for cataract eye surgery performed in the United States.

The AcrySof ReSTOR lens has an "apodized diffractive" design which consists of concentric rings of very fine ridges that create zones that bend light differently to provide correction over a wide range of viewing distances.

"Apodized" means the sharp discontinuities in the concentric rings have been smoothed to create a more seamless optical system for seeing clearly at all distances. The difference between an apodized lens and one without apodization is similar to the difference between bifocal glasses that have a smooth transition between the near and distance lens zones and glasses without this smooth transition.

The AcrySof ReSTOR IOL is made of a flexible acrylic material that allows the lens to be folded and introduced into the eye in small-incision phacoemulsification cataract surgery.

More than 150 patients have been treated by this method and they have not needed glasses. The success is perfect for all cases using old people’s glasses, near-sighted glasses, far-sighted glasses, or cataracts. Patients under 18 years of age will need eye adjustment by Lasik before being replaced with AcrySof Restor Lens.

The inventor of the ATM

The creator of the ATM is Mr. Do Duc Cuong, a Vietnamese American who worked for the US Citibank for over 20 years and is a senior specialist for the US banking sector. Since his return to Vietnam in 2003, Cuong has been working as a senior advisor to Dong A bank. Cuong has over 50 inventions.

Born in the central province of Quang Ngai, Cuong was well-known as a student fond of learning. He had the highest intelligence index in a test carried out by a Japanese group of scientists. This gave him the opportunity to receive a scholarship to follow study at Osaka University.

In Japan, Cuong went to university and took an extra job at Toshiba Company. An invention then unexpectedly brought him to the US. Cuong was then invited to the US to “use a technique to obtain one billion clients for the bank.”

Cuong said his work is to popularize banking services, to make the services accessible to everyone. He invented the ATM, which was considered a breakthrough in the banking history.

Fuel-saving device for motorbikes

This is an invention by Dang Hoang Son from Vinh Long City.

In 2008 the International Quality Management System Certification Agency of the UK granted the “Trust supplier certification" to Hoang Son’s product.

Thanks to this equipment, a motorbike can run 65-70km or even 80km per one liter of gas while a normal motorcycle uses one liter of petrol for only 45-50km.

This device helps save 20-30% in gasoline, while the fuel is burned completely and the engine capacity and lifetime of the vehicle is enhanced.