Team Firebirds victorious at 11th Microsoft Imagine Cup world finals
Tuesday, 16 July 2013 01:45
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First Sri Lankan team
to win first place in a
category at the Imagine Cup world finals
This year’s Microsoft Imagine Cup winners, team ‘Firebirds’, who left for the competition’s 11th world finals held at St. Petersburg, Russia from 8-11 July, brought honour to Sri Lanka when they won the Samsung Digital Native Award presented for fresh thinking, digital savvy and global perspective.
Team Firebirds from the Informatics Institute of Technology – Mohamed Shehan, Stephan Udum-alagala, Amal Gunatilake and Kishore Kumar – presented their project I-Chum at the world finals. I-Chum, a visual aid to the blind, was created with the use of a combination of several technologies such as infrared and RGB cameras, microphones and sonar.
The team leader Mohamed Shehan, who was the mastermind behind the project, said that they brought these technologies together to create this visual aid as there wasn’t a similar device in the market to date. I-Chum captures heat, sound, light and depth and translates them into messages the blind can understand.
The winners were announced at the Imagine Cup awards ceremony held at the historic Alexandrinsky Theater and was attended by more than 800 students, judges, awards partners, Russian dignitaries and members of the media from around the world.
The ceremony was the culmination of a four-day competition and was a celebration of bringing ideas to life through technology and teamwork. The winners of the 11th World Imagine Cup under the three categories innovation, games and world citizenship were from the UK, Austria and Portugal respectively, with each team receiving US$ 50,000 cash awards.
Team Firebirds who won the Samsung Digital Native Award also received a cash price of US$ 10,000, equivalent to the cash price received by the second place winners in the three main Imagine Cup categories.
“For the past 11 years, the Imagine Cup has been a place of inspiration and innovation for students around the world,” said Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President And Chief Evangelist at Microsoft. “The students participating in this competition demonstrate the very best in innovation from their home countries and together are creating new apps, innovations and services that will change the way the world works, interacts and learns. We are proud of the finalists who competed in Imagine Cup this year and stand in awe of the projects and technology they brought forth during this exciting week.”
A jubilant team Firebirds, who arrived in Colombo last Saturday, said: “It was an amazing experience. We were given a chance to present our invention and then another opportunity to showcase the device in which Stefan was blindfolded and made to walk up a staircase, identify objects and walk through an obstacle course etc. The judges who tested the device themselves later on questioned us on the technical and the business aspect of the I-Chum. “
I-Chum met with all the criterion of the award which was fresh thinking, digital savviness and global perspectiveness. This device will now provide the visually impaired a significant technological advantage in a world where they previously had to navigate around with white canes, stated Stefan.
Shehan, the team leader, commenting on their win, said: “This has been a great honour for us. I couldn’t express my happiness to have been chosen to represent Sri Lanka at the world finals and now to have come back with an award is a great honour.
Thanking Microsoft Sri Lanka for the overwhelming support they have received, he added: “The support from Microsoft Sri Lanka has been tremendous. We would not be here if it wasn’t for the support and advice we received from them. We will use the prize money to conduct more research and development on I-Chum and make it a world class product available to everyone.”
Wellington Perera, Director – Developer Platform Evangelism of Microsoft Sri Lanka, commenting on the win, noted: “This is the first time that a team from Sri Lanka has been awarded at the World Imagine Cup and we are incredibly proud of their achievement. I hope that this win will encourage more students to participate in the Imagine Cup and will bring Sri Lanka to the limelight with their inventions.”
