“I was determined to do something about it,” said Prof Aslam, “and so designed a system on a shoestring which could help train him.”
The result was a device, using gaming-style software, that could show young asthma patients how to use their inhalers more effectively.
Prof Aslam, who works at the University of Manchester, attached a microphone to an inhaler.
The product became known as the Rafihaler.
Software converts sounds picked up by the microphone into a visual display on a screen.
When Rafi used his inhaler correctly, he was rewarded by seeing a robot progressing through a series of obstacles, like in a video game.
