Brazil, Romania, China win Windows CE student contest

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This year marked the morphing of Microsoft's annual "Windows Embedded Student ChallengE" into an Embedded Development section of the broader Microsoft-sponsored "Imagine Cup" student competition. Other categories in the Imagine Cup 2007 competition were: Software Design, Web Development, Project Hoshimi (Programming Battle), IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film, and Interface Design.

This was the fifth year of the Imagine Cup competition. The overall theme this year was "Imagine ... a world where technology enables a better education for all." Student teams were encouraged to develop "innovative technological and artistic projects aligned to a social cause."

In addition to the Embedded Development category, there were eight others: Software Design, Web Development, Project Hoshimi (Programming Battle), IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film, and Interface Design.

The next annual competition, Imagine Cup 2008, will be held in Paris. Its theme will be "Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment."

Embedded Development category winners

In the Embedded Development category, competitors were challenged to build a complete hardware and software solution using Windows CE and the hardware provided. Teams of three or four competitors and a faculty mentor were required to build a working prototype of a device that would have an impact on "solving some of our world's toughest problems."

Ebox-2300
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Competitors used an eBox-2300 (depicted at left) together with Windows CE 6.0. The ebox is a compact, minimally configured "embedded PC," to which teams were free to add appropriate peripherals.

Within the Embedded Development category, fifteen finalists were selected in June to compete in the finals this week in Seoul, South Korea. The three winning teams, whose projects are summarized below, received cash prizes of $8,000 (first prize), $4,000 (second prize), and $3,000 (third prize). Additionally, all fifteen finalists will receive travel and accommodations to attend the final competition in Paris, France, Microsoft said.

First Place: Brazil -- Team "Trivent Dreams - ED"

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Team "Trivent Dreams - ED" from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil created a project called e-du box, "inspired by the fact that one fifth of the world's population is illiterate."

Designed to be a low-cost device for education and entertainment, the e-du box has a user interface based on a virtual notebook metaphor (see right) and connects to an ordinary TV set. Its primary input device is a vibrating Bluetooth mouse/pen custom-designed by the team. Bluetooth is also used to let teachers monitor multiple e-du boxes from a Windows Vista sidebar gadget.

The e-du box architecture
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Team Trivent Dreams - ED: Carlos Eduardo Rodriques, Andrew Wilson Furtado, Ivan Cordeiro Cardim

For more information on Trivent Dreams - ED and the e-du box, you can go to the team page here, or download their PDF report here.

Second Place: Romania -- Team "Aether"

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Team "Aether" from the University of Iasi in Romania has a project called the Networked Braille Learning Environment, designed to make learning Braille simpler and cheaper. A single-character tactile device is attached to a student's finger; as characters are formed, the student receives audio feedback.

The eBox is used for the front-end application, hosting the Braille lessons which will send characters to students. The team developed its own PCB for the tactile display, which communicates wirelessly with the eBox using the Zigbee (802.15.4) standard.

The Networked Braille Learning Environment
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Team Aether: Alexandru Vranescu, Bogdan Tanasa, Ionel Vuza, Bogdan Holmanu

For more information on team Aether and the Networked Braille Learning Environment, you can go to the team page here, or download their PDF report here.

Third place: China -- Team "Seed"

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Team "Seed" from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in China has a project called CasBam, designed to help children with DSI (Dysfunction of Sensory Information). The system automates some of the physical therapy required, using equipment such as a rotating chair, a pressure sensor, and 3-D glasses.

Each child's progress is tracked using RFID, via a tag worn inside a Mickey Mouse watch. A distributed architecture links together multiple kindergartens, each with its own eBox, to a central database server.

CasBam system architecture
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Team Seed: Huning Dai, Zhou Xue, Ziqing Ye, Dai Tang

For more information on Seed and the CasBam project, you can go to the team page here, or download their PDF report here.

The Other Twelve Finalists

These twelve other finalist teams competed in the Embedded Development finals in Seoul this week (click each thumbnail to view a large image):

Team "Acumen" from MVSR Engineering College in Hdyerabad, India has a project called Panacea, designed to help the blind visualize images. These are stored on a PC connected to a tactile pad, which uses 32 x 32 electromagnetic elements to create outlines. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "Aero@Put" from the Poznan University of Technology in Poland has a project called enlEYEght, designed to enable early diagnosis of dyslexia. An infrared, Bluetooth-connected sensor measures subjects' eye movements while they interact with text displayed on a Pocket PC. Data is then transmitted to a PC and sent over the Internet for expert analysis. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "BJTU" from Beijing Jiaotong University in China has a project called Innobeyond, designed to provide security via low-cost palmprint identification. Off-the-shelf Webcams and RF card readers are connected to host PCs. Users swipe their ID cards and place their palms over the camera, after which data is sent to a central server for identity verification. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "DCEites" from the Delhi College of Engineering has a project called Indriyaan, designed to read eBooks to the blind via voice synthesis while simultaneously forming braille characters. The system can be controlled via voice command, or remotely via an integral AM receiver. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "Dimensions" from DA-IICT in Gandhinagar, India has a project called Vibhava, designed to let mute individuals communicate without lip-reading or sign language. The system replaces a standard keyboard with a special glove, measuring the resistance created when users touch their thumbs to various points on each finger. A connected PC maps these touch points to standard characters -- the default mimics a cell phone keypad -- and provides synthesized voice output. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "iDoll" from the University of British Columbia in Canada has a project called A Portable and Scalable Manikin System, intended to lower the cost of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training. This replaces high-cost instrumented manikins with simple manikins an organization already owns. They are retrofitted with equipment such as airflow and pressure sensors, then connected wirelessly to a central PC and an instructor's PDA. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "Learn Smart" from the University of Sao Paulo State in Brazil has a project called Pangea, designed to connect language students worldwide. The "Pangea Portal" system lets a user specify what languages they speak and what languages they wish to practice. When an appropriate study partner is found, users can communicate over the Internet via voice and text messaging. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "MIC" from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China has a project called the E-sport Teaching Expert, intended to help athletes train. The system includes wireless heart rate and blood oxygen monitors, which communicate in real-time to a PDA held by a coach. A host PC can also store data for later expert analysis. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "PurpleElf" from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in China has a project called Magnificence of C Major, designed to help beginning piano students. The system can accept any piece of printed piano music, scan it, and convert it into a MIDI file. The system "listens" via a microphone as a student plays on any standard piano, then compares the audio input to the stored data. Students can be given feedback onscreen in real time, or after a performance. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "Tabla" from Wuhan University in China has a project called the Smart Library System, intended to track the position of any book in a library. A PC is installed in each shelving unit, and a stepper motor regularly moves an RFID reader along each shelf within it. An online catalog tells users whether a book is on the shelf and can lead them to it via a 3-D map. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "TechOwls" from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania has a project called S.M.A.R.T., a System for Monitoring exams, Automatic evaluation, handwriting Recognition and information Transfer. This relies on electronic pens, which allow students to write normally on paper but are connected to a central PC via Bluetooth. Pen input is converted to text via character recognition, and can be monitored by an instructor in near-real time. Instructors can review the quality of students' class notes or store exam results securely. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.
Team "UNESP" from the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil has a project called SmartBox, a small computer that can be used in a classroom by attaching it to a standard television or multimedia projector. A custom user interface allows the teacher to use the SmartBox entirely via a remote control. Features include file access over SMB shares, connection to other PCs using a Remote Desktop client, and more, all transparent to the user. Further details are available on the team's page, and from the team's report.