Anglo-Chinese School Students Crowned as the Grand Winner of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2024 Competition
The team, comprising Aiden Lim and Karan Gopu Pillai, impressed the judging panel with their project, SilentGuide - a pair of smart glasses that transcribes spoken words into subtitles, helping people with hearing impairment participate more meaningfully in social conversations.
As the grand winner, Team redbluegold received $7,000 in cash and $10,000 worth of Samsung products, providing them with the resources to further develop their project and make a tangible impact.
Into its eight edition this year, the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition is designed to ignite the passion for championing social change among youths in Singapore. By providing a platform for secondary school students to contribute ideas that address social issues through technology and innovation, Solve for Tomorrow has inspired thousands of youths over the years to become changemakers who are helping to create a better future for their communities.
This year's Solve for Tomorrow competition received 75 entries from over 240 secondary school students, contributing ideas that focused on five key themes – Environmental Sustainability; Health, Sports and Wellness; Inclusive Harmonious Society; Learning and Education; and Singapore's Digital Future.
Breaking Barriers: Smart Glasses Transforms Communication For The Hearing Impaired
Inspired to help low- to middle-income individuals with hearing impairment bridge existing communications gaps and participate more meaningfully in the society, Team redbluegold set out to develop a solution that is wearable, convenient to use and low in cost. Following several iterations, the team developed SilentGuide - a pair of smart glasses that processes spoken words from an individual's surroundings and transcribes them into subtitles, to help users with hearing impairment understand and take part in social conversations.
The solution utilises an I2S Microphone to capture spoken words in real-time and transmits the information to a Raspberry Pi 4, which processes the audio and transcribes the audio into subtitles. The resulting subtitles are displayed on an I2C OLED Screen for the user to read.
Designed to function independently without an internet connection, SilentGuide has the potential to enhance communication and social integration for up to 500,000 individuals with hearing loss in Singapore. The solution can also benefit a growing number of people with disabling hearing loss worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, 430 million people have disabling hearing loss globally, a number expected to exceed 700 million people by 2050.
"Many individuals with hearing impairment don't have access to affordable solutions that can help them bridge the communication gap. Our solution, SilentGuide, aims to address the communication challenges they face, helping them to participate more meaningfully in social conversations. With the convenience it provides and its relatively low cost, SilentGuide will empower individuals with hearing loss to live more fulfilling lives," said Aiden Lim.
"Today, the world is navigating unprecedented social and economic challenges. It is more urgent now than ever to ignite the desire to champion social change among our youths, encourage them to think deeply about societal issues and leverage technology and resources to shape a better tomorrow. I am inspired by the creativity, imagination and heart showcased by our youths at this year's Solve for Tomorrow competition. Their ideas not only reflect a deep passion for creating a better Singapore, they also demonstrate that with boldness and imagination, our youths can truly transform our community and the world," said Dennis Jang, President of Samsung Electronics Singapore and a member of the Solve for Tomorrow 2024 judging panel.
This year's Solve for Tomorrow judging panel also featured industry leaders who are passionate about inspiring youth action and leadership. These include Lim Ee Ling, Co-founder and CEO of Wavesparks, Executive Director for Global Programs at 500 Global, and Council Member of the National Youth Council; Hyder Albar, Head of Social Innovation at Halogen Foundation; and Leonard Tan Bahroocha, Director and Head of Product Innovation Team at Samsung Southeast Asia & Oceania.
Shaping a Better Tomorrow for All with Technology and Innovation
Team Calm Haven from Cedar Girls' Secondary School secured second place with their project, Calm Haven – a smartwatch application designed to help preteens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) overcome daily communication, emotional regulation and dietary challenges. The app incorporates communication aids to help users express themselves, emotion-tracking alerts to inform guardians when users are feeling overwhelmed and an eating diary to help users and caregivers track their nutritional intake. With the app, the team hopes individuals with ASD will have greater ability to communicate, perform daily tasks and integrate better into the society.
The third prize went to Team Smart Vision, comprising of students from Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls' High School and the School of Science and Technology, Singapore. Their solution, Smart Vision, is a pair of smart glasses aimed at improving the vision, communication and navigation to improve the overall quality of life for the elderly. Smart Vision incorporates a speech recognition system and speaker that transcribes spoken words into text displayed on the glasses, a navigation function that guides the user via an onscreen map and audio instructions to the destination, and a hearing aid that enhances audio clarity for the user. With the smart glasses, the team aims to help elderly users overcome communication barriers and reduce social isolation to lead more fulfilling lives.
Team Health+ from Whitley Secondary School won the People's Choice Award for receiving the most online votes for their project, Health+ - a mobile application that uses a large language model (LLM) to interpret complicated medical reports and provide personalised dietary recommendations. By simplifying health management through the app, the team hopes to improve overall health outcomes for patients.
"By leveraging the power of technology to champion social change, our youths have unlimited potential to transform their community, country and eventually the world. Solve for Tomorrow provides them with the platform, technology, resources and opportunities to bring their ideas for social change to life. The exposure to innovative ways of thinking and new ways of solving social problems will empower them with the confidence to become the change that they want to see in our society in time to come," said Hyder Albar, Head of Social Innovation at Halogen Foundation.
For more information on the Solve for Tomorrow 2024 competition, see Appendix A or visit https://www.samsung.com/sg/solvefortomorrow/.
Appendix A
About Samsung Solve for Tomorrow
The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2024 competition in Singapore was launched on 27 May 2024. Designed to ignite the passion for championing social change among youths, the competition provides a platform for secondary school students to express their creativity and passion, and address social issues through technology and innovation.
Competition Overview
Youths aged 12 and above and are full-time Secondary 1 – 5 students in Singapore are eligible for the competition. For students in secondary schools with 6-year Integrated Programme (IP), only full-time students in Secondary 1 – 4 are eligible to participate. The full list of eligible schools is available here.
This year's competition received 75 entries from over 240 secondary school students, focusing on five key themes – Environmental Sustainability; Health, Sports and Wellness; Inclusive Harmonious Society; Learning and Education; and Singapore's Digital Future.
10 finalist teams were shortlisted to participate in the finals, where they presented their ideas to a panel of judges, for a chance to win up to $37,000 in prizes. The finals took place on 14 November 2024.
The ideas from the 10 finalist teams were also made available for online voting by the public. The finalist team with the most votes won the People's Choice Award.
Judging Criteria for Finalist Teams
- 30%: Feasibility - Elaboration on how the solution can be created and implemented.
- 20%: Creativity - Innovativeness, uniqueness and originality of proposed idea.
- 25%: Technology - Elaboration on the use of technology involved and how it is used to solve the problem.
- 20%: Presentation – Flow and effectiveness of the presentation.
- 5%: Public Voting – Finalists' ideas were posted online for public voting.
- First Prize - Samsung products worth $10,000 and $7,000 cash prize
- Second Prize - Samsung products worth S$7,000 and $5,000 cash prize
- Third Prize - Samsung products worth S$5,000 and $3,000 cash prize
- People's Choice Award: Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro
Hashtag: #Samsung #SolveForTomorrow
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
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