Seven Prototypes and Only One Winner... from ASU!

The Yessenov Caspian State University of Technology and Engineering hosted the 72-hour makeathone «TOM: Aktau» involving, among others, teams of Astrakhan State University.

The event was organized by the Tel Aviv University Friends Association in Kazakhstan and supported by the Administration of the Mangistau region and the corporate fund «ERG Komek».

The makeathone aims at presenting ideas and technologies for addressing daily problems of people with special needs. This time, the competition involved seven teams and, according to the organizers, the «TOM: Aktau» results and the level of presented projects surpassed all expectations.

The victory was won by a research team with a self-explanatory name «ASU» consisting of representatives the ASU Faculty of Physics & Technology guided by Dmitry Starov, a senior trainer. The team presented the project «System for Indoor Orientation of Blind and Visually Challenged People».

The system consists of a mobile app for smartphones and sensors, installed in an adapted building. Information about a certain object (toilet, shop, stair flight, elevator, etc.) is transmitted to the person though earphones when he/she appears in the sensor sensitivity zone (200-300 meters).

Analogs of the ASU device have several shortcomings, e.g. limited sensing range, necessity of direct contact or limited availability. The Astrakhan researchers’ system, in its turn, can be used both by visually challenged persons and by the majority of population, e.g. for navigation in shopping malls, crowded places, etc.