KUCHING – A parking system which does away with tickets, a robot that could be programmed to complete tasks via a smartphone and a technique for embedding hidden information were among the winners at the Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2014 (Dreamcatcher), recently.
These were the inventions of students from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, the only private university to make it to the final of the competition in Penang.
A third prize winner called “SmartPark” captures a vehicle’s licence plate as it enters a parking lot. It stores the information in its system then updates this data automatically when the parking fee is paid. When the vehicle approaches the exit barrier, a sensor detects the plate number and crosschecks if it has been cleared to exit. If the fee is paid, the barrier is lifted.
“The driver can also leave the parking lot by using a system-generated Quick Response, or QR, code,” said Dr Almon Chai, who supervised the team.
“An added feature is that if the car is being moved from the parking lot, for example in the case of a theft, the system alerts the driver via mobile phone,” said the Robotics and Mechatronics program coordinator.
SmartPark can be implemented on existing parking systems, he said.
Swinburne Sarawak students also won another third prize for a technique that could embed hidden information in a digital image file without increasing its size.
“This could be used, for example, to verify the authenticity of currency notes, for covert communication, or to save bandwidth when images and texts are transmitted together,” said electronic and electrical programs coordinator, Dr Chua Hong Siang, the team supervisor.
A third Swinburne Sarawak team was awarded a consolation prize for a mobile robot called CHAP, the acronym for Care for Humans Assistance Project. The robot could be linked to a smartphone via an app.
“The small robot could perform tasks such as providing information on the weather, latest news, and other data via voice-activation,” said Chai, who supervised the team.
CHAP could also be programmed to set reminders and to take photographs.
Each of the two third prize winning team took home RM1,000 including hardware and software, while the consolation winners were awarded RM500.