indica news Bureau-
A team of Indian students was declared second runners-up at
the 17th annual Imagine Cup world finals held on May 6 in Seattle, where the Microsoft
Build 2019 conference is ongoing from May 6 through 8.
This year the Imagine Cup finals took place along
with Microsoft’s 2019 Build Developer conference and for the first time, the
finalists were given an opportunity to demo the project to over 6,000
attendees.
The three-member team from the Faridabad-based
Manav Rachna Institute of Research and Studies developed “Caeli”
(which means “air” in Latin), a smart, automated anti-pollution and drug
delivery mask specifically designed for asthmatic and chronic respiratory
patients.
Team Caeli won Surface laptops and $40,000 in
Azure Grants. California based EasyGlucose, took home the 2019 Imagine Cup
trophy for his deep learning, low-cost, and non-invasive blood glucose level
monitor for diabetics.
He won $100,000, a mentoring session with Microsoft
CEO Satya Nadella, $50,000 in Azure grants, and ongoing mentoring.
The 3rd prize winner team was Finderr from the
United Kingdom for their solution to empower visually impaired users to find
lost items with their phone. They won $30,000 in Azure Grants.
The world championship was organized on the
first day of the annual Microsoft Build conference here.
“Caeli” implements breakthrough
features to improve the quality of life for respiratory patients living in
polluted areas like north India and especially in the Delhi and National
Capital Region (NCR).
“At a time when air pollution is a big
concern in various countries including India, we are collecting the real-time
air pollution data that can be used by relevant stakeholders and the Indian
government. They can integrate our application program interfaces (APIs) into
their projects and gain more insights,” Aakash Bhadana from the
“Caeli” team had earlier told IANS.
Bhadana, along with Vasu Kaushik and Bharat
Sundal developed the product under the guidance of Umesh Dutta and team at
Manav Rachna Research Innovation and Incubation Centre (MRIIC).
Considered the “Olympics of Technology,”
Imagine Cup is a global annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft.
Over the past 10 years, more than 1.65 million
students from over 190 countries have participated in the Imagine Cup.
