element14 has announced the winning designs of its “Fighting Germs” Design Challenge, where participants helped to fight COVID-19 by creating projects that protect vulnerable populations and help people cope with the crisis.

The Grand Prize winner, Shabaz Yousaf from the UK, created contact-less virtual buttons that are motion-sensor based, allowing the user to make selections without direct physical contact.

Shabaz has donated his prize, a thermal imaging camera, to a school for use in temperature monitoring as well as gifting his £200 prize money to WaterAid.

The three first place winners, based in the United States, Canada and India, all created germ- fighting projects designed for safety as communities reopen.

First place projects include a face mask detector system that uses cameras to determine if someone is properly wearing a face covering, a 3D printed face shield designed to clip onto the brim of a baseball cap, and a contact- free temperature checker that provides a pass, fail or borderline result to signify whether or not someone is healthy enough to be in public spaces.

The grand prize winner of this design challenge received an IR Camera, £200 shopping cart to Farnell.com and a £200 donation to a charity of choice.

The three first place winners each received a germicidal lamp, a £100 shopping cart to Farnell.com and a £100 donation to a charity of choice.