After demonstrating a handwashing machine that mostly relies on air, a group of Chinese student inventors bagged the top prize in a recently held international engineering competition in Beijing.
Shi Yukun, one of the top prize's recipients and a student at Zhejiang University, shared that the device works by stepping on a paddle, mixing a small water vapor amount with compressed air. This mechanism allows a user to blow dirt and bacteria from their hands more efficiently.
Shi said that the new "equipment will save 90 percent of the water, while achieving the same result as washing hands with water."
The group of young inventors spent one year to create the said device.
"We studied the function of water in the hand-washing process. Very few of the stains on our hands can be dissolved with liquid, but most of the dirts and bacteria have to be washed away by flowing water. We decided to use high-speed air to blow it away, rather than wash it away," he further shared.
The handwashing machine was presented during the two-day Global Grand Challenge Summit (GGCS) engineering summit in the Chinese capital. The event is organized by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, British Royal Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The Chinese student inventors emerged victorious after beating 13 other groups hailing from some of the world's best academic institutions like Hong Kong University and Cambridge University.
The group shared a $1,000 startup fund, care of the summit's organizers.
Shi said that they will use the money for their "efforts to invent and produce water-saving equipment."
In 2013, the first GGCS summit was held in London.