Get to know the Lifestyle category teams innovating for impact with deep convolutional neural networks, Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft Edge Extensions, and more.
The 2021 Imagine Cup is all about innovating to help solve pressing global issues, and this year’s competition is focused on solutions in four social good categories: Earth, Education, Healthcare, and Lifestyle. All tech ideas submitted to the competition were developed under one category that best aligned with a team’s passion and motivation to make a difference. In this feature, we’ll look at innovations in our Lifestyle competition category.
Lifestyle overview
The Lifestyle category focuses on projects that shape how we game, play, and live. Tech that creates opportunities for recreation, building community, and shaping our passions, hobbies, and work is important for all of us as a digital world becomes interwoven into our daily lives. Students have created solutions within this category encompassing a virtual game to combat social isolation, an app to increase the spatial awareness of cyclists, and a sign-language caption generator.
Why it matters
The tools, games, and resources that bring positivity, fun, social connection, and creative interactions with others around the world is more important than ever. At the forefront of Lifestyle innovation is creating technology that holds purpose and meaning in our lives giving us information, creative outlets, connection, and relaxation. Students in this category aim to have that impact through their Imagine Cup ideas.
Meet our Lifestyle category World Finalists:
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Team Assurance, United States Project: Assurance - Re(Imagine) Safety
Team Assurance created a proactive and affordable system to prevent mass shootings. It works by scanning the aggregate input from security camera feeds for firearms and alerts all parties it needs to alert as soon as a firearm is detected. The system is fully extensible and is able to run on low-cost hardware. |
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Team DataMasker, China Project: WellMask
WellMask is an Artificial Intelligence social mask based on semantic extraction & symbol communication. The team hopes to solve the problems of inefficient communication and high social threshold caused by masks, so that masks are no longer synonymous with isolation. |
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Team Detectd, India Project: Detectd- A sophisticated Artificial Intelligence based online Deepfake Detection platform
Detectd is a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence online Deepfake detection platform. It aims to fight misinformation warfare, the biggest cyber threat of 21st century. The aim is to counter the bad actors from weaponizing AI & misinformation. |
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Team En#Plane, Korea Project: HSG : Hate Speech Guard for Children
HSG is a Microsoft Edge extension program for children that filters hate speech in text and videos on websites. The goal is to positively aid child development and reduce parental concerns. |
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Team Funtime, France Project: Funtime
Funtime is a social game, with the goal to help people socializing virtually. The game is a video call with pose challenges that players try to mimic. AI is used to analyze the human poses and return a player score. |
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Team INTELLIVOLT, Kenya Project: Power Monitoring System
Intellivolt monitors over voltage, under voltage and power outages. Alerts from Azure applications in the form of SMS and emails are sent to relevant authorities in real time. |
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Team Mimibot, Singapore Project: Mimibot
Mimibot is a chatbot that interacts with children aged 7-12. Its database is connected to a web portal that allows parents and teachers to gain insight to their children's emotions and words or topics using data visualization. |
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Team Roball Go, China Project: Intelligent Visual Inspection Spherical Robot with Active Drive and Recovery
Roball Go is an intelligent vision spherical inspection robot with active attitude drive and recovery. It can travel in a variety of harsh environments so as to be used in consumer-grade entertainment projects, security inspections, environmental inspections, and national defense and military applications. |
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Team SafeTandem, Singapore Project: SafeTandem
The team created an Android application with an optional hardware add-on to increase the spatial awareness of cyclists and the people around them. The solution aims to benefit everyone, including the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. |
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Team Threeotech, Thailand Project: JustSigns
JustSigns is a web application for content creators to create sign language captions to improve media accessibility for hard-of-hearing viewers. |
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Team Virtuoso Music, United States Project: Virtuoso-Hyper-realistic AI Musician Using a Novel Multi-resolution Approach with deep convolutional neural networks
Virtuoso is a program capable of playing a midi (sheet music) as if it was played by a real musician, achieved by utilizing a novel multi-resolution approach using deep convolutional neural networks. |
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Team Zephyr Air, United States Project: Zephyr Air
Zephyr Air is a low-cost smart air purifier that automatically turns on when the particulate matter sensor inside detects highly concentrated levels of P.M. 2.5 and P.M.10. |
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We’re so inspired by these students’ passion to make a difference and are excited to see them pitch their projects at the World Finals this month. Four winning teams will be selected from each of the competition categories, taking home USD10,000 and Azure credits. These teams will also move forward to the World Championship for the chance to win USD75,000 and mentorship with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella. Two runner-up teams in each category will take home USD2,500 plus Azure credits.
Follow the action
Follow these teams’ journey on Instagram and Twitter as they head to the World Finals to compete.