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A group of teens has created a new mobile app that helps people with autism become more engaged both physically and mentally, reports KGTV.
The group is involved in Mechanical Advantage which is a robotics team in North County where teens combine engineering and community service.
"We are as individuals who want to give back to our community. We also strive for success in competition, but it's just as important to engage people who don't have the same opportunities," team leader Rohan Bosworth told KGTV.
The team won first place in a regional event with the idea, which took them to the inaugural Global Innovation World Championship.
"We had to design an innovation that solved a real-world problem related to physical and mental health," explained Bosworth.
The app is called Pathfinder, which provides personalized and custom games for kids with autism. Users earn playing time by completing physical exercises monitored by the app's accelerometer.
"We've interacted with a lot of autistic kids and have seen that they have specific needs and specific traits. We recognized through research that no solution targeted these needs," said Bosworth.
The group didn't win the grand prize but they did win the Global Innovation Impact Award.
This was also the first project the team got to work on in person since the start of the pandemic.
"We have more projects planned to grow STEM in our community and help benefit other populations in San Diego."