Diabetes management app by Australian uni students wins Microsoft Asian award
Three information technology students from the University of Sydney have won the Microsoft Asian Cup with their BlueClover mobile phone app, which is designed to help diabetics manage their condition.
The students have been invited to showcase the app at the annual Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank Forum held in Delhi, India in early May 2013. The meeting is a major forum for policy makers, key industry leaders and non-government organisations to discuss solutions to economic and development issues facing the region.
The BlueClover app was designed by Andrew Chen, a final year information technologies student, and fellow students Donald Zhang and Robin Huang to replace the current options diabetics have for tracking their daily food and beverage intake.
“At the moment, diabetes patients are required to manually record and calculate their levels,” Mr Chen said. “Our app focuses on a logbook that electronically records essential information needed for the management of the disorder, such as blood glucose levels, amount of carbohydrates consumed for meals, and insulin levels,” he said.
BlueClover has been designed so that users do not have to manually enter the information for the foods they eat, instead scanning the barcodes of the products consumed.
The app’s logbook can also provide analysed information on the recorded data, such as graphs and trends. It also has a built-in alarm system that reminds users to record their glucose and carbohydrate intake, along with the amount of exercise they have done.
The team is hoping the BlueClover app will be available commercially in the near future.
