Mobile app recycling and budgeting wins AI Brunei teens
Mobile app development swept the final phase of the first Teens in AI Brunei program with top three high schools designing platforms to help with financial budgeting and retraining.
The Financoin team at Chung Hwa Middle School won $ 1,500 with an app that targets personal financial management through a multi-functional budgeting platform that records transactions, creates simplified graphs of spending habits and savings and offers rewards for consistent use.
The EnvironCycle recycling app from AI Fourturistics at Chung Ching Middle School, which won the second prize of $ 1,000, provides information to Bruneians about where and what they can recycle, with features of Convenient geolocation allowing users to map their nearest recycling site.
Another recycling app took third place and $ 500 from Sekolah Ugama Arab Menengah Perempuan Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha. 3REKA has a waste sorting scanner that classifies and identifies waste into categories and suggests how it can be reused or reused. Right now, the scanner is focused on identifying plastics.
The top three were selected from a pool of 10 teams from seven schools by a panel of leading judges from partner organizations during a virtual presentation day on December 18.
Created by British company Acorn Aspirations in 2018 as a program to help young people learn AI and other new technological skills, Teens in AI was implemented in more than 20 countries before being introduced to the Brunei last year.
181 young people joined the program in Brunei, which was divided into three phases, starting with a pilot hackathon with 49 students in September 2020. The second phase launched earlier in February saw the participation of 132 students, with the top 10 teams registered. to the final phase for an intensive 14-day accelerator program to further develop their prototype.
Throughout the phases, participants attended workshops and benefited from the mentorship of local and international experts in the fields of artificial intelligence, IT, business and design-thinking. Teachers from participating schools also received training and guided students as facilitators, especially in the second phase.
During their presentations, the top three teams expressed their wish to gain more ground for their applications after the program concludes. Financoin is available for download from their website and EnvironCycle is on the Google Playstore.
The founders of Financoin plan to introduce reward tokens on their app to incentivize consistent use, which can be redeemed for coupons or discounts at local businesses. Tokens are paid for regular use of the app or when goals are met. The app also has a chatbot that users can interact with for basic financial advice.
Meanwhile, EnvironCycle hopes to bridge the gap between the growing public interest in recycling and the lack of centralized information about it. The app contains the latest recycling news and events and also aims to introduce digital currency into the app to reward users when recycling.
Baiduri Bank technical director Simon Hansman suggested in his comments to judge that they hire logistics or ride-sharing companies to have a pick-up service that will transport waste to recycling centers for users.
Organizers and sponsoring organizations said the program was part of Brunei’s larger dynamic towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with skills acquired by adolescents used to develop solutions to real-world problems.
“Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) supports the Teens in AI program as it fosters the artificial intelligence (AI) and entrepreneurial skills of our young talent in Brunei, which helps them to be ready for the future, to seize the opportunities of the industrial revolution and increase their readiness to manage uncertain times, ”said Amalina Harun, social investment advisor at BSP.
“This is in line with the country’s aspiration to build human resource capacity for a digitized world – demonstrating our leadership in enhancing AI skills as well as a mindset for innovation and growth. “
Teens in AI in Brunei was facilitated by Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) and implemented by local startups InTurn Co. and Think Axis, together with the Authority for the Information and Communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam ( AITI) and the Science Technology Environment Partnership (STEP) Center at the Department of Education (MoE) serving as strategic and community partners, respectively.
The program is funded by sponsors Brunei Shell Petroleum (platinum), Baiduri Bank and Brunei Shell Marketing (gold), Unified National Networks (bronze) and Dynamik Technologies (bronze).
