A group of Korean university students has won the top honors at The James Dyson Award, an international engineering competition for young innovators, with their unique invention -- a “hands-free” intravenous drip device.

The award was launched by The James Dyson Foundation, an international charity of Sir James Dyson, the founder and chief engineer of the UK appliance giant, in 2005. The billionaire inventor handpicks the award winners every year.

This is the first time that a Korean team has won the top prize.

Currently, IV therapy is administered by gravity or an electronic infusion device. The bag should be held up high enough for the fluid to go downward, causing inconvenience to both patients and medical workers, especially in emergency situations.

But the Korean team’s invention, called The Golden Capsule, does not rely on gravity or electricity. Instead, it uses a pressurized bladder based on the engineering principle of air pressure difference and the material’s elasticity.

The device is designed to deflate slowly, pressurizing the drip into the patient. It can be positioned anywhere, such as strapped to the patient’s side, to free up medical personnel to perform other lifesaving work.

“The team has identified the limitations of existing IV injection methods, which rely on gravity and electricity, in disaster zones. Their Golden Capsule offers a much more practical, hands-free solution,“ Dyson said in his congratulatory remarks. He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2007 New Year Honours for services to business.

“The Golden Capsule really caught my eye because that’s solving a real problem that no one has bothered to solve before.”

The team consists of four students from Hongik University in Seoul – Chae Yu-jin and Bai Yuan, who are majoring in industrial design, and Kim Dae-yeon and Shin Young-hwan, who are majoring in mechanical engineering. They first teamed up in March to work on their graduation project.

“It is an honor to receive the award from Sir Dyson, and it is an enlightening experience for us to learn how simple engineering principles and the right design can make the biggest improvements,“ Chae told The Korea Herald in an interview on Monday.

“Golden Capsule is made to operate without relying on gravity. Dyson has also launched bagless vacuum cleaners and bladeless fans. Sometimes it is more innovative to get rid of something than adding more.”