Blind-Adaptive Transport

Can you develop an innovative technology to enable visually impaired persons in using public transportation?

A call for programmers, computer engineers, and developers to innovate solutions that can support the visually impaired to access public transportation, for a chance to win 100,000 EGP, 75,000 EGP and 50,000 EGP for 3 winning projects presented by Life Makers Foundation Egypt , in collaboration with Samsung Egypt, as part of the Innovation Competition. Please read the following for more details!

Background

One of the most usable means of transportation is public buses. In Greater Cairo, bus routes cover the majority of the city, however, due to the lack of regular schedules or clear stops, using buses for transportation is not a smooth process.

For visually impaired people accessing public buses is an even greater struggle. For example there are difficulties to detect bus arrivals, the correct bus number or the bus heading destination and this is due to a number of present constraints:

1. Lack of identification features which means that the visually impaired person is not properly informed about the arrival of the vehicle
2. Stops are not properly marked to direct the visually impaired person to the right place to wait for the bus
3. Lack of acoustic information to indicate the bus lines or numbers to the visually impaired
4. Absence of timetables readable by visually impaired people
5. The driver is unable to detect that a visually impaired passenger is on board

Accordingly, the visually impaired are unable to use this mode of transportation easily and independently despite its availability.

Challenge

To develop an innovative technological application or device to increase the accessibility of the visually impaired to use public buses easily and independently. The submitted innovation should fulfil the following criteria:

• Enable the visual impaired person to track the bus line and heading destination
• Inform visual impaired person of the arrival of the bus
• Include additional features such as notifying the driver about the presence of a visual impaired person onboard (preferable)
• Low-cost
• Tech enabled or digital
• User-friendly
• Real-time system
• Sustainable

Reward and Conditions

The winner will receive one of 3 awards: 100,000 EGP for 1st place, 75,000 EGP for 2nd place, and 50,000 EGP for 3rd place provided by Samsung Egypt and in collaboration with Life Makers Foundation Egypt, to implement the solution according to the following conditions:

▷ The solution should meet the aforementioned criteria

▷ The solution should be provided as a detailed description of the concept. The description should show how the solution meets the criteria in detail, how it solves the challenge and what benefits it offers to the user, why it is different compared to existing solutions (if applicable) and how it utilizes technology to solve the challenge

▷ The solution should include a clear plan of action including implementation stages to produce the final prototype (including preparation, implementation and testing), timeline, required components/materials, estimated budget, and technical support required (if applicable)

▷ Preference will be given to solutions that include a basic visual prototype

▷ Preference will be given to solutions including higher percentages of local components

Submitted solutions will be go through a shortlisting stage. Shortlisted solutions will receive coaching sessions during January to prepare them for the pitch competition. Final winners will be selected after presenting their solutions to a judging panel at the end of January.

The reward will be given in installments, following milestones set by the innovator(s) according to their plan of action.

 

As per our platform Terms and Conditions, in case the intellectual property rights are not registered, the innovator should include the minimum details required to judge the technical validity and feasibility of the solution without full technical specifications.

You can submit a solution at any time. Before doing so, we strongly recommend you to read the rules and FAQs.

About the Program

This challenge is part of the Innovation Competition initiated by Life Makers Foundation Egypt with the main funding supporter Samsung Egypt and implemented by Yomken.com. The competition aims at encouraging Egyptian innovators to develop innovations in the field of empowering Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). This is done by providing technical and financial support to develop technology enabled and digital innovations that can effectively address challenges vis-à-vis PwD employment, education and social inclusion and which have the potential for implementation and scaling at the national level.

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