A Scots schoolgirl who designed a walking aid for her disabled sister has won a national award alongside her classmates.
Olivia Thompson, 11, created the Cloud Walker alongside three classmates at St Bride's Primary School in Glasgow with her three-year-old sibling Gabriella in mind. Glasgow Live reports that little Gabriella has cerebral palsy, a lifelong condition that affects her mobility.
Together with classmates Evie Anderson, Nuala-Maria McKnight and Ellie Lapin, Olivia designed the walker with an iPad-style tablet that could help youngsters complete everyday tasks. The foursome have scooped the City of Glasgow College Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre's first ever primary school level competition.
The device is still at a design stage – but a prototype could yet be built by engineering students. Olivia said she and her classmates hadn't expected to pick up the gong.
She said: "In class my teacher said we could do an invention for any physical or mental condition so I thought about my wee sister, I just wanted to do it for her. My sister means a lot.
"We invented the Cloud Walker because she uses a walker to help her. We upgraded it and added an iPad with different apps on it for diet, exercise and memory.
"For diet we researched different things that people should eat, the exercise app had things they should and shouldn't do, there were wee pictures on another app to help with memory. They said that students might be able to make it but it could take a long time."
She added of the win: "I was really amazed. My mum looked at an email on the school app and it said we were the winners, so I was really, really happy."
Mum Aileen Thompson, beamed with pride when she found out the group were working on a project to help her daughter. Together with husband Steven the 39-year-old mum-of-three watched the girls pick up their prizes at a special awards ceremony.
Aileen said: "It was very much a group effort, they worked really hard on it. They had to send a video presentation to the competition, so they took their turns talking.
"They also each had a say in parts of the design as well. I was really proud of her because it shows how much she thinks of her younger sister.
"The fact her friends were all onboard and really supportive was amazing because it was to help someone they knew. It's not something that parents had any really knowledge of until they actually won and then we got to see the video at the presentation.
"It is definitely the most amazing thing she has done so far. For her and her friends to win a national competition is outstanding."
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