Kiwi students' mobile eye finishes in the top six at 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup

Auckland University and AUT students lead the way in the future of technology, keeping NZ in the Top 6 Finalists in Software Design

Team MobileEye has wowed the international judging panel at the Worldwide Finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition, with their application that provides assistance to people who are visually impaired.

The team, comprised of students from both the University of Auckland and the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), placed in the Top Six in the software design category of the competition in Sydney yesterday evening.

"We are over the moon to have made it to the Top Six – we were pretty positive coming into the Worldwide Finals competition, and the great support from our mentors, Microsoft New Zealand, as well as family and friends really helped drive us to get this far," says Aakash Polra, Team Leader for MobileEye.

More than 358,000 students from universities in 183 countries registered for the Microsoft Imagine Cup, the world’s premier student technology competition. In its tenth year, the competition challenges students to imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.

Team MobileEye stood out with their imagination, passion, creativity, and a carefully crafted solution to address the issues faced by people who are visually impaired. The team worked closely with the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind to develop and test their application for the Windows Phone and Symbian platforms. The MobileEye app uses a mix of artificial intelligence and crowd-sourced data to provide the user with information about what is around them, assisting individuals in the areas of navigation, shopping and day-to-day activities that may benefit from a greater awareness of a person's surroundings.

“The Finals have been awesome and we are so grateful for the opportunities that have come our way throughout the competition. From here we hope to reach out to the worldwide blind community, and help them discover the world,” says Aakash.

New Zealand has consistently been a top performer at the Imagine Cup in recent years, with Kiwi teams making it to the Top Six at the Worldwide Finals for the last three years running.

“We are so proud of Team MobileEye – they headed into this tough competition with an ingenious idea and managed to amaze the judges,” says Scott Wylie, Director of the Developer and Platform Group for Microsoft New Zealand, who was in Sydney to watch the team take the stage.

“They were fantastic representatives for the country, and have helped ear-mark New Zealand as one of the most innovative countries in the world – developing creative, cutting-edge solutions that receive recognition on the world stage. The fact that we have been on this finals stage for the last three years running is a testament to that.”

Back in New Zealand, the team hopes to continue developing their project with the aim of growing it and exporting the technology offshore to help blind people around the globe.

Visit www.imaginecup.co.nz for news and information about the competition, or www.mobileeye.org for news and information about the team and their solution.

Become part of the Imagine Cup community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nzimaginecup.