SWEEP apps: College projects now start-ups

MANILA, Philippines - A cellphone and obstacle detection device for the blind. An SMS-based queuing system so one does not have to fall in line. An online platform that allows crowd-funding for a cause or any special occasion. These are some of the innovative mobile and wireless applications developed as college projects and are soon to test the market as start-ups.

Smart Communications Inc. has provided a platform for students to showcase their technical know-how and ingenuity by developing community-based wireless and mobile applications that address a specific need via the annual SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards.

SWEEP stands for Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program. It is the first-of-its-kind industry-academe technology partnership, with 44 colleges and universities in the fields of Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) and Information Technology.

Under the program, schools are provided with technical laboratories, trainings on the latest trends and technologies in the telco industry.

Over the past nine years of the SWEEP Awards, over 80 of those applications have reached the prototype stage and the telco is now giving these innovations the opportunity to become start-ups and viable business solutions.

Many of these mobile and wireless apps provide innovative solutions to problems that beset communities. However, they have remained prototypes, mostly in compliance with the graduating students’ thesis requirements.

With the help of the Idea- Space Foundation Inc. (ideaspace.ph), the non-profit incubator arm of the MPIC Group of Companies of which PLDT and Smart are part, these start-ups would be given that extra push.

IdeaSpace aims to help these budding technology entrepreneurs develop innovative solutions and transform these into successful commercial products.

IdeaSpace combines business incubation and acceleration by providing not only seed capital but also a host of services to start-ups such as business education and the opportunity to demonstrate or showcase products to potential investors and partner companies.

Developers of three SWEEP apps have signified their wish for their prototypes to evolve into business enterprises. These are: Wearable Obstacle Detection System and Braille Cell Phone for the Blind, grand prize winner, 8th SWEEP Awards; TimeFree, finalist, 6th SWEEP Awards; and Pasagoods, grand prize winner, 5th SWEEP Awards.

Braille cellphone, obstacle detector

Graduating Computer Engineering students Girly Perando, Janiena Roxanne Dirain and Kristine Emy Matabang won for Mapua Institute of Technology last year’s grand prize for their application dedicated to helping the visually impaired experience both ease in mobility and communication in one device.

The specialized mobile phone allows the user to receive and “read” text messages via the centuries-old Braille system in the form of a small rectangle containing two columns of three dots each. Placed on top of this rectangle is a traditional keypad.

The phone vibrates when it receives a message, which can then be read (by character) with the dots, which raise automatically. Incoming and outgoing calls are facilitated through a headset. Like a normal mobile phone, the Braille phone also uses a subscriber identity module (SIM) card and is rechargeable.

Hardwired to the console is a four-inch-long sensor, which by design is attached to a walking stick — a necessity for blind or visually impaired individuals. If the sensor detects an obstruction, it vibrates and gives off a buzzing sound. The sensor can detect an object as far as five meters away.
The overall concept and design earned the all-female group the top prize in the competition. The three developers, however, want the app to realize its full potential as a useful tool for the visually impaired.

As a start-up, the first line of business for the developers is to design and build a more compact Braille phone, with wireless connectivity attached to the walking stick sensor. At present, the device is quite bulky and must be worn on a sling bag. Voice recognition would also be a useful feature.
With an estimated half-a-million visually impaired Filipinos, this application has found its market niche.

TimeFree

In a nutshell, TimeFree allows one to leave the premises of the Maynilad payment center and be notified via SMS if his number is to be called soon. This enables the customer to do other things without losing his or her slot in the queue. The app creates a virtual queuing line, improving customer experience.

A team of developers from the Ateneo de Zamboanga University is composed of then fifth-year Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) students Philip Adrian Atilano, Joselle Macrohon, Chris Vem Modejar and Sharief Kayer Alsree.

They conceptualized TimeFree as an SMS-based application that would enable users to make use of the waiting time of students and parents in the long queues during tuition payment periods.

Since 2010 when the app was shortlisted in the SWEEP Awards, the developers of TimeFree have made major changes, specifically going from a hardware-based system to a software-based one, primarily to reduce costs. From initially addressing a specific need in the university, TimeFree has since evolved into a system that addresses the needs of corporate clients.

Early this year, the team started developing a proof of concept for the PLDT MGO Clinic, which processes the health clearances of employees under the MPIC Group. Two months later, the developers made a technical presentation and demonstration of the prototype. They are now further developing the prototype to accommodate additional service requirements of the PLDT MGO Clinic.

The developers are also working on a proof of concept to improve the queuing system of the payment center of Smart sister firm, Maynilad Water Services Inc.

Pasagoods

Taking off from Smart’s innovative and groundbreaking over-the-air reloading called Pasaload is Pasagoods, an online donating platform developed by the Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU).  The app (www.pasagoods.com<http: / /www.pasagoods.com>) allows its users to get information, make transactions and track their gifts/donations to charity events and relief operations.

Users can browse information online about the project and, because of a social network integration feature, can also easily share with friends via social network sites.

Users can make online contributions via Paypal, credit card, Smart Money and Smart load credits. Updates are made available by subscribing to the project updates from the creator. It makes helping other people accessible to everyone. Team members Daniel Jeffrey Lagazo, Marc Ericsson Santos and Jason Paul Cruz initially activated the app in time for Christmas gift-giving to beneficiaries of projects of accredited AdMU organizations.

The app has evolved since into a crowd-funding platform for just about anything — a birthday wish, your dream honeymoon, a personal or community event or a social cause that you want to support.

Using the online app, virtually anyone can create a project that needs funding. The project can be promoted via the social network, e-mail or by importing the widget to a website. Everyone then can contribute to the project through various payment schemes such as credit card, Paypal or via electronic load. Once completed, the project creator gets the funds.

Pasagoods leverages on the creative interaction of the networked society, taking the Filipino sense of community to the next level. The team that developed the app believes that individually, efforts may be limited, but together they can bring about a greater change.

“We in Smart encourage innovation in schools because we recognize that even the biggest telco in the country does not have a monopoly on the brightest minds,” said Smart Public Affairs head Ramon Isberto.

“Ushering these innovations from the prototype stage into commercial applications that people and communities can actually make use of jibes with our goal of harnessing technology to make Filipino lives better,” he added.

Under its corporate social responsibility program, Smart carries out projects like SWEEP that help enhance the quality of Philippine education, from elementary up to tertiary level.