The Shirt project for autistic children of the F.O.B.C group, students of the University of Science and Technology and the University of Economics - the University of Danang was awarded the Champion Cup of Technology Startup Competition among students in 2022.

Nguyen Manh Dung, Team Leader of F.O.B.C - Shirt project for autistic children said: “Through a survey at centers teaching and taking care of children with autism, when in an agitated state, most children will show signs of screaming, smashing, possibly hurting themselves or those around them”. From the survey results and refer to other sources related to autistic children, the frequency of excitement of autistic children is about 4 times/week. If the weather is hot, the level may be more. According to Nguyen Hoang Bao Tram, a member of the project, usually when autistic children are agitated, teachers and parents or caregivers have to hug and pat the child to reassure and help the child calm down. "However, in this process, many children still cause injuries to the opposite person, it is only at the level of skin abrasion, but there are also many dangerous situations," Tram commented.

From here, a group of students from the University of Science and Technology and the University of Economics - the University of Danang think of smart shirts as a tool to support teachers and parents in helping autistic children control their excitement. Nguyen Manh Dung said: “The smart shirt at first glance looks like an ordinary jacket, using fabric material, weighing about 1kg. The shirt is designed with a size that is not picky, so children 6-14 years old can wear it without having to change when children change their height or weight. Inside the shirt, there is an airbag system, the massage device is placed above the shoulder. The shirt will work according to the mechanism of deep pressing stimulation”.

The product of a shirt for autistic children by a group of students from the University of Technology and 

the University of Economics - the University of Danang invented

Accordingly, when autistic children are excited, The shirt will automatically inflate the airbag that hugs the child's body and the massage device on the shoulders works at the same time, helping the child quickly stabilize their psychology to return to a normal state. The most difficult thing about implementing this project, according to Dung, was to find a support tool that could be used by many children with autism with varying degrees of severity and mildness. Technically, the team took a long time to choose the plan to use the air bag with how much is appropriate, designed to be tight to remain safe for children when the device is in operation.

Comparing the group's shirt for autistic children with some other products with the same function on the market, Bao Tram said that the shirt works by automatic mechanism, remote controlled by RF waves, giving children a sense of comfortable with massage. Meanwhile, some other products force children to be forced to use them, making them uncomfortable, sometimes even making them more agitated. Not only stopping at the demonstration version at the Student Tech Startup Contest in 2022, the group of authors of the Shirt project for autistic children will find a solution to complete the commercial product. The colors and exterior decoration of the shirt will be redesigned to create interest for children. “Currently, the new shirt has coverage from the shoulders to the abdomen. Our team plans to design a gown model so that the air bags can cover the entire body of the child, thus shortening the child's agitation time. In addition, the shirt will be designed with a sensor feature that can measure and analyze heart rate and a number of other parameters so that it can both monitor the health of the child and be active as soon as the child starts to get agitated." Tram said.

Due to the impact of Covid-19, the group's autistic children's jackets have only been tested for 10 children. The test results showed that, when the systems inside the shirt worked for more than 10 minutes, the children gradually stopped being agitated, did not scream and disturb.

See the article Students invent shirt to reduce agitation in autistic children in Da Nang Newspaper.

According to Ha Tran (Da Nang Newspaper)