Filipino Students Win International Award for Tech Designed to Ease Nurses’ Workload

Three students developed CARED in response to the heavy workloads facing nurses, combining routine patient measurements into one system.

OLONGAPO, PHILIPPINES, October 28, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Three Filipino students have been selected as one of the four winning teams in the World Robot Olympiad™ (WRO^®) STEM Entrepreneur Program after developing a patient-monitoring system designed to automate routine measurements and reduce repetitive work for nurses.

The WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program, powered by Aramco, is a new initiative to bridge the gap between STEM education and entrepreneurship by giving students the opportunity to defend how their technologies work, why they matter, and how they would take their solutions from the competition arena to the market with the objective of solving real-world challenges.

John Lee Bacoco, 16, Ahmika Julia Reyes, 15, and Katarina Sening Parungao, 16, from Regional Science High School III developed CARED, an integrated system that brings several routine patient-monitoring functions together and transmits the information to healthcare personnel.
The idea grew from the students’ concern about the heavy workloads facing nurses in the Philippines. The team wanted to explore whether several repetitive monitoring tasks could be brought together in one device, giving nurses easier access to patient information.

“In one sentence, it is the future of patient care. What we did was create an all-in-one medical device to lessen nurses’ workload, so nurses can have the vital signs of the patient in one place and the information can then be transmitted to the hospital database,” said Katarina Sening M. Parungao, Project CARED.

The prototype combines heart rate and oxygen-saturation monitoring, blood-pressure measurement, urine-output tracking and medication reminders. The team has built and tested a working prototype, comparing some of its measurements with commercial medical devices to understand where the system performs well and where it still needs improvement.

The students also see potential for the concept beyond larger healthcare facilities. In Hyderabad, India they highlighted rural health centers as an important long-term focus for the project.

“Our main goal is to reach rural health centres. We really believe that, no matter who you are or where you are, accessible healthcare is a right and not a privilege. That is the main goal of our project,” said John Lee C. Bacoco, Project CARED.

The WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program challenged the team to think beyond the technology itself. After presenting CARED to entrepreneurs, investors and industry professionals, the students said questions about how the project could reach users made them consider its potential beyond the Philippines and strengthened their ambition to continue improving the device.

22 student teams from 13 countries took part in the program, pitching both the technical and practical value of robotics projects developed through WRO’s Future Innovators competition.

“Project CARED stood out because the students connected their technical work to a challenge they see in their own country. They are using robotics not just to build something for a competition, but to explore how technology could respond to a real need in healthcare, particularly in Intensive Care Units. That is the kind of learning we want young people to experience through WRO in the Philippines,” said Mylene Abiva, President and CEO of FELTA Multi-Media, the National Organizer for WRO in the Philippines.

Project CARED was selected as one of the four equal winning teams, alongside teams from India, Italy and South Korea. Each receives a $5,000 award and six months of mentoring from industry experts, including investment professionals from Aramco Ventures, the global venturing arm of Aramco, as well as experts from India STEM Foundation and WRO, to help further develop their projects.

The WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program, powered by strategic partner Aramco, bridges STEM education and entrepreneurship by challenging young people to explain not just how their technology works, but why it matters and how it can evolve beyond the competition.

“At Aramco, we believe the future lies in empowering young people. Our STEM Education Global Program enables students to understand science and technology and use it to create, build, and solve. Our strategic partnership with WRO continues to expand, allowing students to take their ideas outside of the classroom, from ideation and prototyping to execution and real-world innovation,” said Hadeel Al-Eisa, Aramco Corporate Citizenship Manager.

Following the inaugural event in Hyderabad, WRO plans to bring the STEM Entrepreneur Program format to National Organizers around the world.

ENDS

About the WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program
The WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program is a new program launched as a result of a strategic partnership between Aramco and WRO. It combines robotics, innovation, and entrepreneurship by challenging student teams to present both the technical and practical value of their solutions to a panel of industry professionals. The international event took place in Hyderabad, India, on September 28, 2026. It brought together 22 teams from 13 countries: Ghana, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, and Uganda.

About the World Robot Olympiad Association
World Robot Olympiad™ Association (WRO^®) is a global non-profit that engages over 175,000 young people across more than 100 countries through hands-on robotics challenges. The competition helps students develop creative problem-solving skills while fostering international collaboration and STEM leadership.

Media Contact
For media enquiries regarding this release, please contact press@wro-association.org

Tina Lee
World Robot Olympiad Association
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