Harvard Student Radhika Saran Wins James Dyson Award 2026 in Global Medical Category

Radhika Saran, an Indian-origin student at Harvard University, has won the Global Medical category of the James Dyson Award 2026 alongside her teammates Cleo Pontone and Sophia DeVito. The team received the international recognition for developing Rumble Rims, an innovative headset designed to help identify potential concussions among athletes through infrared eye-tracking technology.

Selected by Sir James Dyson, the invention aims to make concussion screening more accessible, particularly for schools, youth sports programmes and grassroots-level sporting teams. The team will receive a prize of $40,000 (approximately Rs 37 lakh) to support further development of the technology.

According to the award announcement published on November 4, 2026, Rumble Rims was selected for its potential to help identify neurological impairment following head injuries and support safer decisions about athletes returning to play.

Who Is Radhika Saran?

Radhika Saran is an Indian-origin designer who grew up in India and initially pursued architecture before moving abroad for higher education. She is currently enrolled in Harvard University's Master's in Design Engineering programme.

She developed Rumble Rims with fellow Harvard students Cleo Pontone and Sophia DeVito. The project combines engineering, design and healthcare innovation to address the challenges of identifying sports-related concussions.The team's achievement has brought international attention to the role of student-led innovation in developing accessible solutions to healthcare challenges.

What Is Rumble Rims and How Does It Work?

Rumble Rims Wins 2026 U.S. James Dyson Award for Bringing Concussion Screening Out of the Clinic and Onto the SidelineRumble Rims is a low-cost headset that uses infrared cameras to track eye movements and identify signs that may indicate neurological impairment following a head injury.The screening process takes approximately two to three minutes. During the test, an athlete wears the headset and follows a moving target displayed on an iPad screen. Infrared cameras record how the eyes follow, focus on and respond to the target.

The collected measurements are then processed and presented on a mobile display, providing information that can help coaches and trainers assess whether an athlete should be removed from play and referred for further medical evaluation.The device also includes a recovery dashboard that allows repeated assessments over time. This can help athletes, families and healthcare professionals monitor recovery progress before an athlete resumes sporting activities.Importantly, Rumble Rims is designed as a screening tool, not a medical diagnostic device. Decisions about concussion diagnosis and an athlete's return to play must remain with qualified healthcare professionals.

Affordable Technology to Improve Sports Safety

One of the major objectives behind Rumble Rims is to make objective concussion screening more accessible to schools and community sports organisations.Existing eye-tracking technologies can require expensive specialist equipment and clinical facilities, making them difficult for grassroots sports teams to access.The Harvard team explored different designs, including helmets, mouthguards and chin rests, before developing the current headset. Its design incorporates side-mounted infrared cameras and 45-degree dichroic mirrors.

The current prototype was developed for less than $350, according to the inventors. The team plans to improve the prototype, refine its eye-tracking assessment and conduct further validation with athletes, coaches, trainers and medical professionals.The longer-term objective is to conduct pilot programmes with schools and youth sports organisations and pursue the necessary medical device validation.

James Dyson Award 2026 Recognises Global Student Innovation

The James Dyson Award is an international design and engineering competition that recognises innovative solutions developed by university students and recent graduates.For the 2026 edition, the competition received 2,294 entries from 28 countries and regions, marking its highest participation to date.

Alongside Rumble Rims, the 2026 Global Sustainability Award went to Sentinel, developed by Aldrei Ong, a graduate of De La Salle University in the Philippines.Sentinel is a sensor-based technology designed to identify hidden structural damage in concrete buildings following earthquakes, helping engineers monitor potential safety risks.Both winning projects were selected by Sir James Dyson for addressing important real-world challenges through practical engineering and innovative design.