The Growth Journey of a Kid in Scientific Research

When I was in 5th grade, basic office computing and programming were official competition subjects in the "Primary School" category of the National Young Informatics Contest of Vietnam. That was the first big arena of my life. I was fortunate enough to win 2nd place overall.

It was also my first time traveling to Hà Nội - a city where I had the privilege of meeting many talented teachers in technology. After returning to Cần Thơ, Cần Thơ University was tasked with identifying and training young students in the city to participate in national technology innovation competitions.

Thanks to my father's connection with my former primary school teacher, he received a call recommending me for the program.

A Strict Father - And the First Step Into Embedded Systems

My father is extremely strict with me. But he is also the one who "lets me out into the world" the most.

He agreed immediately to that phone call. The next day, a 12-year-old boy stood inside a university lecture hall.

That was where I met Thay Nguyen - a lecturer in Electronics and Automation. He taught me my very first lessons in electronics and embedded programming.

I asked my dad for 100,000 VND - about 5 USD at the time - to buy my first Arduino UNO R3. That small board was my gateway into embedded systems.

The First Idea - A Fall Detection Device for the Elderly

When it came time to propose a thesis idea, my teacher suggested that I think about humans, not machines.

That was how the idea of a fall detection device for the elderly was born.

My grandfather had slipped in the bathroom several times without anyone noticing. Thank God he is still healthy today. But that problem stayed in my mind.

The first prototype took around three months to complete. Honestly, I did not do much alone - my teacher guided me through almost everything. I mean, what did you expect from an 11 or 12-year-old kid on his first research project?

The system was simple:

A wearable device attached to the waist
A tilt angle sensor, similar to those used in drones
Data sent into an Arduino
If the tilt angle suddenly changed toward a lying-down position, a small buzzer would beep to alert

I thought it was revolutionary.

I thought I was on top of the world.

The Humbling Day

My teacher saw my ego immediately.

He did not scold me. Instead, he told me to wear the device for an entire day and test it myself.

Let me tell you - it was the most headache-inducing day of my life.

The alarm kept beeping from early morning until midnight.

I did not fall.
I had no accidents.
I just rode my bicycle, played around, laid down, and basically did nothing dangerous.

Do you see the problem?

The device only detected changes in body angle. It could not distinguish between falling and simply lying down to rest.

In our code, we had implemented logging into the Arduino EEPROM memory chip. The next day, my teacher read the logs and, with a gentle smile, asked me:

"You fell this many times yesterday?"

I was deeply embarrassed. Just one day earlier, I had confidently claimed the system had no flaws.

That was the most important and valuable lesson in my scientific research journey.

Science must be tested in reality.
And science must serve humans.

Success - But With a Different Mindset

That year, I won First Prize in the Young Research Competition with the improved product. It was also my final year participating.

Tin Học Trẻ: tin tức, hình ảnh, video, bình luận mới nhất

But I was no longer arrogant.

I carried my teacher's words with me:
"Science is for humans."

I expanded the system by adding:

Heart rate sensors
SpO2 sensors
Health monitoring features

Back then, devices like Apple Watch were not yet common.

I also added new alert methods:

SMS notifications to family members
Location sharing in case the elderly person was alone at home

A Leap Forward - Collaboration

That was when I met Huu Thuan Nguyen - later my boss. At the time, he was still in high school. He was incredibly talented - especially in gaming and game development. He also knew Android programming and was leading a youth Android developer club.

I do not remember exactly how we started collaborating. But Thuan developed an Android application that received alert messages and device coordinates.

That was a massive leap forward.

You have to understand - at that time, smartphone apps were not as common. Many people were still using classic Nokia brick phones that could only call and text.

We later collaborated with Thay Duy Nguyen - who is now a PhD researcher in Australia. The three of us continued developing the project and participated in the Young Maker Challenge Vietnam sponsored by Intel.

We won Third Prize.
Thuan earned a scholarship opportunity to the United States.

We were, in many ways, successful.

And Now?

The project was paused during COVID-19. Since then, I have completed several other projects - including an automatic temperature measurement and facial recognition device (I will share that story in another blog).

Now I am a senior university student in the United States, in a world where AI is everywhere.

I know I have many ideas to continue developing UCare.

But perhaps that story belongs to the future.

Maybe.

Hopefully.