Santiago Ambit is passionate about technology and holds several patents. He’s won over eleven prizes for some of his ideas and products including plants that send out tweets when they need watered, shoes for the blind or digital signage that distributes digital contents. He started seeing Bluetooth® Smart devices grow exponentially and worked with his business partner to “make something interesting.” His idea for WeON Glasses came after a discussion in a Madrid coffee shop where they mapped the idea on the back of a napkin. Now he’s a student finalist in the Bluetooth Breakthrough Awards.

“We decided to start with glasses but there was a big challenge before us. The frames provide very little space to work with. We decided to create the smallest Bluetooth Smart circuit board on a wearable device. This became possible with Nordic launched the nRF51822. The size of this chip made it possible to include the design on the glasses.”

The other challenge was design. They needed to include the chip, a battery, a multi-color LED set, a buzzer and two buttons on the frame. Santiago didn’t want people to feel like a cyborg but wanted the WeON glasses to be part of their everyday wear. The result was a compromise between form and function.

As for the next 10 to 15 years, Santiago hopes to continue inventing and bringing his products to market.

“I want to continue like today because my passion is to make new inventions and see the results. Hopefully, I can build a team to work together to innovate new products.”

Santiago hopes to use the breakthrough awards to help spread the word of the product and establish relationships with distributors and partners.

Other things to know about Santiago:

Loves school—“I don’t have a favorite subject and I am not an expert in anything. I was a student of letters, philosophy, literature and engineering.”

Plays with electronics as a hobby—“Arduino was my first step. My biggest hobby has been my many inventions. My passion is to invent new stuff and then see the results.”

(Credit: Nanci Taplett)