Microsoft 'Imagine Cup' worldwide final begins

Pragati Simlote

AGRA: Microsoft's

three-day long Imagine Cup started here today. Students from 41 countries have

converged here to participate in the Imagine

Cup 2006 worldwide finals.

The competition, now in its fourth year, allows university students to unlock

their creative genius and create software solutions with real world

applicability. The theme of the 2006 Imagine Cup is: “Imagine a world where

technology allows us to live healthier lives”.

The competition is divided into six categories with a total cash prize of

$1,25,000. The categories include software design algorithm, IT programming

battle, short film and interface design.

Indian participation is there in two categories namely software design and

interface design. Team Sonique from DA-IICT,

India, comprising of Rahul Sawhney, Deepak Jagdish, Shreyas Nangi and Mohit

Gupta, is participating in the software design category.

Their project - Sonique - is an all-encompassing accessibility and navigation

solution for visually impaired people. It helps the blind to use technology both

in the real-world of day-to-day navigation, and also in the virtual world of

computers.

Sonique uses ultrasonic sensors to map the place around the visually impaired

person, and then provides a real-time 3D sound feedback of the environment,

using a PocketPC running on Windows Mobile 5.0. The solution also extends to

other platforms running on .NET Framework, and leverages accessibility of

computers to the blind, using frequency grids and speech support.

The other Indian team in the Interface Designer category - 'The Avengers'

consists of Mohit Bhargava from Ambedkar Institute of Technology (Guru Gobind

Singh Inderprastha University) and Mitushi Jain from National Institute of

Fashion Technology (NIFT, New Delhi). They have developed a project named

Satellite Imaging and Fabric Technology (SIFT).

SIFT are interfaces to an application that continuously monitors health

details of soldiers with help of special fabric dresses, which sends data across

the satellites

to base station to monitor the health status of soldiers and generating

sufficient alerts to help anyone in vain. The winners in various categories will

be honored at a function in Delhi after the competition ends on August 9.

"Around 65,000 students from 100 countries had entered the competition,

the theme of which was "Imagine a world where technology enables us to live

healthier lives," Joe Wilson, director, academic initiatives, Microsoft,

said.

He added, "This contest gives these students the platform they need to

develop their projects further, and they go ahead and do it. Microsoft does not

retain property rights to the designs. Last year, the Greek team which developed

a model to translate sign language into speech raised about 500,000 Euros in

funding to develop their project," said Microsoft director of academic

initiatives Joe Wilson.

Earlier, the participants were enthralled by percussionists Sivamani and V

Selvaganesh.

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