Last month, we covered Microsoft's announcement of three finalists in its embeddedSPARK 2011 contest, which challenges academics, hobbyists, or developers to come up with interesting Windows Embedded Compact 7 devices. (For more details of the three finalists -- who will present a flying camera, an electronic bulletin board, and a touchscreen meal planner to the judges at the upcoming 2011 Windows Embedded DevDive event in Redmond -- see our previous coverage.)

But as many readers will already be aware, Microsoft also has a massive competition for students in the form of the Imagine Cup, billed as "the world's premier student technology competition" and now in its ninth year." The 2011 Imagine Cup, with finals scheduled for July in New York, asked student teams to "imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems."

Specifically, Microsoft adds, the event focuses on the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which are as follows:

• ending hunger and poverty
• achieving primary education for everyone
• promoting gender equality and empowerment
• reducing child mortality
• improving maternal health
• combating widespread disease
• ensuring environmental sustainability
• developing a global partnership for development

As in past years, the 2011 Imagine Cup has multiple categories, any of which can be entered by teams consisting of three or four students and a faculty member. The categories include Software Design, Game Design, Digital Media, Windows Phone 7, Interoperability Challenge, Windows 7 Touch Challenge, IT Challenge, and the Orchard Challenge (the latter involving Orchard, an open-source CMS that's under development by Microsoft).

The category we're naturally been following, however, is the Embedded Development challenge. In the first round of this competition, which ended on Jan. 9, teams were asked to submit a "Project Vision Report" (five pages or fewer) that explains what problem they are trying to solve, what the proposed solution is, and why this would be best implemented as an embedded device. The report should briefly discuss proposed hardware and software architecture, Microsoft adds.

Out of 350 initial teams, 150 were selected for the second round, and received DM&P's eBox-3310A-MSJK (right), a compact PC that includes a 1GHz MSTI PDX-600 (a version of DMP's Vortex86DX), 256MB or 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and a Type II/II CompactFlash slot. While being free to add additional hardware and software, teams had to use the eBox and a Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system image that they themselves configured, built, debugged, and deployed.

The second round concluded on May 5, by which time teams had to submit information on the embedded device they built in the form of written documentation and a video not to exceed five minutes in length. Not long after, 20 finalist teams -- listed on Microsoft's website -- were chosen to receive a free trip to New York, Microsoft says.

Of the 20 finalists, Microsoft highlighted three in a June 7 press release:

• Team Drushti from V.E.S. Institute of Technology in Mumbai, India, whose project provides visually impaired users a natural way of interacting with a computing device through a proposed tactile grid
• Team Calvus from Russia, whose device controls conditions to create a suitable environment for larval axolotl, a kind of animal used in stem cell research
• Team Cycling into Trees from the U.K.'s University of York, whose "Child Sleep Safe" project, which aims to reduce crib deaths by monitoring a sleeping baby

That's not to say these three projects will win, however, as anything can happen during July's finals. As Microsoft notes, from July 8 to 13 the teams will each present their devices in front of two separate judging panels, who will whittle their numbers down to 12 and then just six, according to Microsoft. In the final round of judging, first-, second-, and third-place teams will be announced, and will receive cash prizes of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000, respectively.


Microsoft U.K. created this video to promote the Imagine Cup
(click to play)

Further information

More information may be found on Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2011 website and Imagine Cup Facebook page. Specifics about the Embedded Development competition may be found here.

Jonathan Angel can be reached at jonathan.angel@ziffdavisenterprise.com and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.

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