February 5, 2010

  • 6th SWEEP Awards

    Events


    We arrived in Makati at around noon. We dropped by our hotel, the Somerset Serviced Residence, to literally drop our bags, then headed to A. Venue, the venue for this year's SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards.

    This is a two-day event, but I was told that the participants, college and high school students from all over the country, arrived several days ahead. They had a series of workshops and team building activities that would not only help lessen the tension among the participants but would also foster camaraderie in order to promote future partnerships.

    Today's activity basically centered on the SWEEP participants defending their projects. There were ten from various schools:

    1. Notre Dame of Maribel University - Channelized Election Process, which helps voters in South Cotabato to localize their assigned precinct through SMS;

    2. Ateneo de Davao University - Development and Field-testing of a Digital Agricultural Land Mapping System, which uses wireless technology and image processing in soil assessment to help farmers in Southern Mindanao;

    3. Ateneo de Davao University - Development of a Fish Density Detection System for the Fisherfolk of Lianga Bay, which notifies fishermen if a sizable volume of fish is available;

    4. Mindanao State University with Low-cost Microcontroller-based Mobile Home Automation with Bluetooth and SMS for homeowners in General Santos City;

    5. Ateneo de Manila University - SMART Bantay Barangay, which forwards security concerns to the proper authorities;

    6. Batangas State University - SMART Karwats, an SMS-based anti-car theft security system with GPS tracking capability by monitoring cars through cellphones. This can be used by car companies as a security feature;

    7. St. La Salle Bacolod - SMART Voting for Cleaner Elections, which uses SMS as the medium for voting for some barangay residents;

    8. Ateneo de Manila University - S-Mart.com, which promotes the growth of community businesses in Pampanga;

    9. Ateneo de Zamboanga University - TimeFree, which is an SMS-based device that helps students maximize waiting time during the payment of tuition in the school; and

    10. Holy Name University (Bohol) - Water Supply Management through Wireless Technology, which monitors water services in Calape, Bohol.

    From all these inventions, the most practical and the best, I would say, is TimeFree.

    I could already see its application in many establishments that would require customers to qeue. This would include utility payment centers, government agencies, customer service centers, schools, hospitals, clinics, and so much more.

    The basic concept of TimeFree is for you to be alerted through SMS when your turn in the qeue is about to come. You will be the one to set when you will be alerted. Like if you are number 157 in the qeue, you can set the system to send you a message when 155 or earlier is being served. It will also send you a message when your number is already called.

    This allows one to do other things while waiting, without having to sit waiting to be called. You can go shopping, or do other things, and rest assured that once your number is about to be called, you will be informed so that the moment you return, it would be your turn to be entertained.

    Wow, innovation indeed.

    There are also very impractical and so "what's new?" projects. Not original, so to speak.

    Together with the SWEEP Awards, which by the way is already on its 6th year, is the 2nd Doon Po Sa Amin (In our place) Learning Challenge Awards. Its a pride of place thing, recognizing the best local online content generated by high school students using ICT and curriculum-based topics.

    The aim of the project is to promote and develop the respective communities of the constestants.

    The sites are live in doonposaamin.ph.

    ***

    Ok, now with Somerset.

    Wow! I can't believe it. I love you SMART for giving me this room. Oh, wait, its not a room, its a whole condo unit.

    Two rooms, kitchen (all loaded, except for the food), a living area, a dining area, a servant's quarter with laundry and ironing facility.

    Just wow. I can live here. Should I have known I would have brought my maid with me and some family and friends. Too bad, its only me here.

    The rooms are big, as in literally big. Well kept, well serviced, just excellent.

    I forgot the name of the restaurant where we had lunch, guess it was not that much special or the food not that hmmm... never mind, basta its also in A.Venue.

    For dinner we went to this restaurant in A.Venue called Fluke. Home-cooking is what they boast of. Just a small restaurant with less than a dozen tables.

    The food were just so filling. Delicious, but not that special. I had a chicken dish, which tasted simply like chicken barbecue. Just a fancy name that also did not tickle my memory.

    What made the dnner excellent though is the great conversation we had with Ramon Isberto, the head for public relations of Smart Telecommunications.

    ***

    This project by the way is a project of Smart, and I would say its a very meaningful project that pushes Electronics and Communications Engineering and Information Technology students to their best.

    Now with Doon Po Sa Amin, they are also extending this excellent concept down to high school students.

    The price for SWEEP is 1 million pesos, half of which goes to the school in the form of a grant. The rest is to be shared by the members of the winning team, 20 percent of which goes to their teacher.

    Not bad. The challenge here is to encourage the students to pursue their inventions until it becomes a fully functioning solution and not just remain as a prototype.

    ***

    Tomorrow will be a long day, with the awarding and all. I can't wait to interview the delegates from the Visayas.

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