Two teams from SMU School of Information Systems (SIS) - Team Tria Artifex, comprising first-year student Clarence Ngoh Peng Yu, as well as Wong Wai Tuck and Kong Yu Jian who will join SIS next year; and Team RGIS, comprising third-year students Andre Ng Hao Yuan, Lam Kee Wei and Heng U San – have done SMU proud by clinching the top and third spots respectively at the recently concluded code::XtremeApps::2014 competition jointly organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC).

The 24-hour hackathon, now in its eighth year, is one of IDA's and ITSC's initiatives geared to create greater hands-on awareness in technology and encourage the development of computational thinking in young tech talents.

The winning SMU teams competed in the Open Category, which is open to contestants from all ages and backgrounds. Themed "Smart Living – Using Data to Enrich Communities", 62 teams and 160 participants competed in this category, and used open-source hardware such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino Uno. This year also saw the introduction and use of open data to the Hackathon. Participants were encouraged to use government datasets available from data.gov.sg, OneMap.sg or government agencies to develop comprehensive solutions that harnessed data and its subsequent analysis.

Team Tria Artifex created BlackBox, a car crash detection system that shaves precious minutes off emergency response time in the event of an accident. The BlackBox immediately signals for emergency responders upon detecting a genuine crash and activates a live camera feed to assess the condition of the driver. The device also sends data and alerts the nearest hospital with the driver's pre-registered vital medical details such as blood type, allergies and medical history to ensure a hospital is ready for a patient even before they are rushed through its emergency doors. For their innovative use of incorporating road and traffic data from the Land Transport Authority, Tria Artifex was also awarded the data.gov.sg prize, bringing their total prize winnings to $10,000.

Clarence Ngoh said, “The most challenging part about the competition was that we were literally learning the ropes while we were developing our prototype. Coming from non-IT backgrounds, we did not have much experience in the technologies required, it was a process of learn-as-you-do. I think the greatest takeaway is learning how to work out problems as a team, to collaborate and manage our workload well, and also to have fun in the process.”

“We are extremely happy to have represented and brought home the top prize for SIS. We are infinitely grateful to our seniors who have mentored us before the competition, and the SIS community who cheered us on throughout the competition,” added Wong Wai Tuck.

“Not only did we pick up new technologies and computing skills, what we found most applicable in our future as SMU students would be the soft skills, and the ability to work and think as a team,” Kong Yu Jian enthused.

[Photo: (2^nd – 4^th from left) Mr Lam Kee Wei, Mr Andre Ng and Ms Heng U San secured third spot in the competition. Flanking them were Mr Chak Kong Soon, President of Singapore Computer Society (extreme left) and Mr Steve Leonard, Executive Deputy Chairman of IDA (extreme right).] (Photo: ITSC)  

Team RGIS came in third at the competition and bagged $3000. Their GuidePi system aims to make public buses more assessable for the visually impaired. The GuidePi hotline selects the bus route to a chosen destination, while a personal device alerts the user when the correct bus is approaching, as well as when the bus is approaching the alighting point. A device in the bus also alerts the driver that there is a visually impaired person boarding their bus. All these help bring about more freedom and independence for the visually impaired, enabling them to travel without worries.

Said Andre Ng, "One of the hardest challenges we faced in coming up with the solution was to put ourselves in the shoes of the visually impaired and try to understand some of the obstacles they face when taking public buses. This meant integrating a telephony service with our web application and device. This experience has made us realise how fortunate we are, and renewed our belief that we can help create a more inclusive society by utilising technology."

[Featured photo: (from left) Mr Chak Kong Soon, President of Singapore Computer Society, Mr Clarence Ngoh, Mr Wong Wai Tuck, Mr Kong Yu Jian, and Mr Steve Leonard, Executive Deputy Chairman of IDA.] (Photo: ITSC)