Two Canadian students won more than $ 130,000 in cash and Microsoft Azure awards Wednesday when they took home the first place in the Microsoft Imagine Cup world final. The team - who invented smartARM, a robotic arm that uses AI technology to adjust its grip - also won a private meeting with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Around 3,000 teams sent projects to Imagine Cup, Microsoft's annual competition that encourages creativity and technological invention, with themes that encompass accessibility, data and mixed reality. Thousands of presentations were reduced to 49 teams representing 33 countries. In the final round, only three teams presented their inventions to a panel of judges in Seattle.
Hamayal Choudry, a second-year mechatronics engineering student at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and Samin Khan, a third-year computer science student at the University of Toronto, took first place with their 3D-printed SmartARM. The prosthesis uses a camera in the palm to evaluate the object that holds and subtly adjust the grip. With automatic learning, the device improves the more it is used. The data is stored in the cloud, so even if the user changes the device, the information will be transferred to the new model.
The second-place team, from Greece, invented iCry2Talk, a device that records a baby's cries and translates it into text, images or a voice message, providing suggestions of care to parents. A team from Japan ranked third with Mediated Ear, software that can help a person with hearing problems isolate a voice in a crowded environment.
The three main winners went home with Microsoft Azure credits and free Microsoft Surface laptops. Nadella himself praised the finalists of the competition in Seattle and said: "The impact that you all can have is enormous, the opportunity is huge," reports GeekWire. Chloe Kim, an American Olympic snowboarder, also made a special appearance.
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