Father inspires award-winning invention

David Nghiem's inspiration to create an award-winning device that sends text alerts to notify you if your stove has been left on came with a steep price.

In 2005 his father Albert, an engineer, was involved in a car crash that left him with severe brain trauma.

Although he can still perform most everyday tasks, one of his characteristics was accentuated.

Nghiem said his father's paranoia became out of control.

"He always thinks he left the stove on," Nghiem said. "So he would always make me turn the car around to check the stove."

So the Cherry Hill native, a hardware developer who lives in Maryland, came up with a solution: an Internet of Things (IOT) device that monitors the stove and sends a text to his father's cellphone, alerting him that the stove is on or off.

Internet of Things is defined as a scenario in which objects or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Motivated to turn his idea into something tangible, Nghiem entered and won the Internet of Things Maker division of the TechCrunch NYC Disrupt 2015 Hackathon, a 24-hour race where programmers design and implement a product and then present it on stage in one minute or less.

"The contest said to build something that matters," Nghiem said. "So I thought to myself, 'When was the last time I saw a high-tech project designed to help the elderly, disabled, or both?' "

Not only did Nghiem create the prototype in less than 20 hours, he presented it to a live audience with only an hour of sleep.

"I was there just to have fun and enjoy the experience," Nghiem said.

The finished product, Stove Top Sensor would feature several advancements. It would receive the stove's temperature and transmit the data via wifi and then through an SMS service. The SMS service would then send a text to a cellphone.

Nghiem beat out 109 other programmers to win an all-expense paid trip to San Francisco.

While visiting San Francisco, Nghiem won another hackathon, capturingthe stage prize at the Signal Conference, an event that showcases the latest progress in software and cloud communications.

With his recent success, Nghiem is forming a startup company based on the technology he has developed. He envisions creating a home network of low-cost sensors and monitors to aid those with excessive worries like his father.

"I want to bring some sanity back into my life and if that means bringing sanity back into other's lives, I'm all for it."