Bath water level detector for the blind
Most of us tried to get an extra couple of marks in anything we did at school by mentioning the disabled. I almost passed out with relief in my A level "computer science" exam when it was divided into two halves - one half had the question "how do computers help the disabled?" and the other half said "think of a software application that could help the disabled in the future".

But my GCSE CDT technology project was a bath water level detector for the blind. It was a buzzer attached to two wires, inside a plastic case. When the water reached the two wires, the buzzer would go off, and the the grateful blind person could feel their way to the bathroom and enjoy a long hot bath without flooding the house.

But I left my testing phase until the day before it had to be submitted, and I forgot that once the water reached the wires it would continue to rise, buzzing regardless, until it engulfed the plastic case and the battery inside, killing the whole thing.

My mother found me directing a hairdryer at it, crying. (yes I know i said GCSE, I was a sensitive boy). But she found the perfect solution; I filed it down and down and down, put it on a string, and the next day handed in a colourful pendant for the deaf.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Thu 13 Aug 2009, 16:48, Reply)