Team Zest from Singapore awarded runner up position at 2020 Microsoft Imagine Cup Asia Regional Finals

 |   Singapore News Center

imagine cup poster

The Singaporean team has been awarded USD2,500 for its innovative technology solution.

SINGAPORE, 20 FEBRUARY 2020 – Microsoft awarded Team Zest from Singapore the runner up position following an intense finale against 9 other teams from across the region at this year’s Imagine Cup Asia finals on 19 February 2020.

The competition is designed to inspire students to use their imagination and passion for technology to create innovative solutions that tackle some of the world’s biggest social, environmental, and health challenges.

Team Zest, along with Tulibot from Indonesia and Blume from India will receive USD2,500 each for their innovative projects.

  • Team Zest developed Dr. Rehab, a mobile application that provides real-world physiotherapy supervision by medical professionals through computer vision
  • Team Tulibot developed Tulibot, an integrated assistive device to bridge the communication gap for the hearing impaired. The technology features a wearable smart glove and glasses
  • Team Blume developed an android application that allows patients to scan the RFID tag on prescription medication to ensure its authenticity and allergen-compatibility with the patient

In a first for the annual competition, this year’s Imagine Cup Asia Finals was held via Microsoft Teams and saw the 10 finalists from seven countries virtually present their inventions to secure a place in the World Championships in May.

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This year’s winners, Team Hollo from Hong Kong and Team Nutone from Japan have each received  a cash prize of USD8,000, Azure credits and a trip to the global finals to be held at Microsoft Build 2020Both winning teams will compete with winners from Americas and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), for the Imagine Cup trophy along with a cash prize of USD100,000, a mentoring session with Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corp and a USD50,000 Azure Grant.

“Microsoft’s Imagine Cup competition not only challenges students to utilize technology creatively to make a difference in the world, but also provides the opportunity to connect, engage, and learn from a community of like-minded young innovators. We’re glad to see student teams from across Asia showcase their unique solutions that have the potential to create lasting impact. We hope that through this competition, students are inspired to pursue their passion to develop, ideate, and solve global problems through the power of technology,” said Jennifer Ritzinger, General Manager, Audience Evangelism, Microsoft.

The 10 finalist student teams – from Japan, Singapore, Nepal, Indonesia, India, China and Hong Kong – were selected from various rounds of the competition online or through in-person National Final events organized by Microsoft subsidiaries in countries across the Asia region.

The competition’s online judging panel included executives from Microsoft and industry leaders. They evaluated the teams on innovation, and whether each solution presented was comprehensive and marketable. The judges were:

  • Craig Dixon, Co-Founder, Entrepreneur in Residence and Program Director, Acceleration Asia
  • Leanne Robers, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, She Loves Tech
  • Jennifer Ritzinger, General Manager, Audience Evangelism, Microsoft
  • Vanessa Ching, Founder – XR Alliance, Brand Engineer – GeoWorks
  • Andrea Della Mattea, President, Asia Pacific, Microsoft

Held annually since 2003, the Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition, affectionately known by participants as the “Olympics of student technology competitions”. This year’s Imagine Cup encouraged participants to “Dream it. Build it. Live it” in order to create applications that shape how individuals live, work and play and through their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology. For more information about Imagine Cup, please visit https://www.imaginecup.com/.

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Team Zestteam members of Zest

Project Name: Dr. Rehab

Team Members: Elaine Chong Yan Min, Dewi Sendjaja, Hui Min Teh

School: Nanyang Technological University

Where the Team Grew Up: Singapore

How the Team Formed: Initially two students collaborated as part of a final year project at NTU EEE and by expanding the team to three they were able include additional ideas.

Inspiration: YouTube founders Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim inspired Team Zest with their ability to use technology to create online communities.

Project Snapshot: Dr. Rehab is a mobile application for real-time physiotherapy supervision through computer vision. Users can access the rehabilitation exercises assigned to them, follow guided instructions, and receive feedback while completing their exercises.

Project Overview

Dr. Rehab is an essential tool that allows patients to perform physiotherapy exercises anywhere in a safe and monitored environment. Using computer vision, patients will be advised during the exercises to prevent further injury from incorrect posture. Patients can book consultation sessions online and connect with others for social support. This application encourages and motivates patients to complete their rehabilitation journey for a more effective recovery.

Team Zest is interested in the relevance of technology in healthcare. After some initial research, they realized they could help patients with busy schedules stay on track with rehabilitation programs and improve the recovery process.

Team Zest ensured the color scheme chosen for the application was inclusive for users with color blindness. Meeting the needs of the target market required in-depth understanding of the customer. The team undertook extensive brainstorming and research to match the needs of the customer with the design of the application.

Team Zest heard about the Imagine Cup from seniors and discovered it was a good platform to validate their ideas.

Future Plans

Team Zest plans to fine tune the project to better serve current patients by tweaking features and increasing accuracy. In addition, the team hopes to expand from hand rehabilitation to other areas to help a wider audience.

Team Quote

“We want to enhance the accessibility of rehabilitation, allowing everyone to be able to follow through their rehabilitation journey for an effective recovery.” – Elaine, Team Zest