IEEE GeronCAS 2021 Student Design Competition (SDC)
IEEE CASS and Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing™) launched the first edition of GeronCAS Student Design Competition (SDC) in October 2021 to encourage the technology solution creation aligned with CAS technology, addressing older adults’ well-being. GeronCAS SDC seeks technology solutions in personalizing older adults’ well-being by accounting for individual variability (i.e., condition & needs).
The competition has gained worldwide interest with 11 initial submissions. Along with the competition, each team was assigned an expert mentor from MyAgeing™ and attended the Design Thinking Course online at the CAS Micro-Learning (MiLe) platform. Within a few weeks, each team submitted their demonstration videos and reports, showing the solution’s highlights and its alignment to the Circuits and Systems technology. After careful technical evaluation, the six judging committee panels have recommended the first, second, and third-place winners as follows:
1st Place Winner: Ergonomic and Affordable Obstructive Sleep Apnea Early Detection System to Prevent the Bigger Risk of Sleep Apnea in Senior Adults, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
2nd Place Winner: IoT Supervision Device for Senior Citizen, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
3rd Place Winner: Wheelchair Safety System Based on Arduino, Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya, Indonesia
The judging criteria for the submitted project include the technical quality, creativity, completion, and relevance to the circuits and systems technology. The top 3 winners have demonstrated their project during the GeronCAS virtual workshop on 25th December 2021. Moreover, another special award – the “People Choice Award”, judged by the most LIKED demonstration video on the YouTube channel, has been won by the team from Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia. The award ceremony was presented during the virtual workshop online.
More information on the competition can be found here: https://cas.ieeemy.org/geroncas-student-design-competition.
Lim Yang Wei and Fakhrul Zaman Rokhani (email: fzr@upm.edu.my)
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2nd IEEE Circuit and Systems for Older Adults’ Well-being Hybrid Workshop
(IEEE GeronCAS 2021 Hybrid Workshop)
On 25th November 2021, IEEE CASS Malaysia Chapter has successfully organized the GeronCAS Hybrid Workshop 2021 through the Zoom webinar platform and physically hosted it at Park Royal Penang Resort, Penang, Malaysia. GeronCAS strives to be the reference platform for researchers and industry stakeholders to develop cutting-edge CAS-based technology solutions in the overarching Precision Ageing domain, directed towards emerging needs of the older adults. The event attracted over 60 worldwide attendees from academia and health institutions. Around 40 attendees are IEEE members, and 20 non-IEEE members are among the participants. The organizer has successfully recruited 12 new CASS members throughout a series of GeronCAS events.
The hybrid workshop started at 2:00 pm (GMT+8) with a speech from Dr. Mohd Nazim Mohtar (GeronCAS 2021 Workshop Co-chair) to raise the awareness of world population ageing and highlight the goal of the GeronCAS workshop. Dr. Mohd Nazim Mohtar also represented Prof. Amara Amara (President of IEEE CAS Society) to deliver his welcome remarks to all the workshop participants. The workshop program included three lecture sessions, three live demonstrations from the GeronCAS Student Design Competition (SDC) top three finalists, and the award ceremony for the winner of GeronCAS SDC.
Left photo: Welcome remarks given by Dr. Mohd Nazim Mohtar, general co-chair of GeronCAS 2021 hybrid workshop. Right photo: Welcome remarks given by Prof. Amara Amara, President of IEEE CASS, represented by Dr. Mohd Nazim Mohtar
In the first lecture, Dr. Khoo Eng Tat from the National University of Singapore introduced the emerging virtual/augmented reality technology in intergeneration games that enable interesting interaction between the elderly and young generations. Dr. Abdul Gafoor Mubarak from Island Specialist Hospital, Malaysia, has presented the elderly health issues related to weight loss and the bariatrics surgery for the elderly in the second lecture session. The last lecture was delivered by Dr. Subapriya Suppiah from University Putra Malaysia on precision medicine towards early detection of Alzheimer’s disease using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). All the honored speakers have received virtual recognition after the lecture sessions. Also, a short, interactive quiz session for all the attendees was conducted during a short break time. The top three winners of the quiz session were given free CASS membership for 2022.
The lectures were given by Dr. Khoo Eng Tat from National University of Singapore (Top Left Photo), Dr. Abdul Gafoor Mubarak from Island Specialist Hospital, Malaysia (Top Right Photo), and Dr. Subapriya Suppiah from University Putra Malaysia (Bottom Photo)
The workshop was then followed by the live demonstrations from the GeronCAS SDC top three finalists, including the teams from Institute Teknologi Bandung, Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya, and Universiti Putra Malaysia. The Institute Teknologi Bandung team has presented an obstructive sleep apnea early detection system for senior adults to prevent the risk due to sleep apnea. The system was designed with ergonomic and affordable considerations. The second project was presented by the Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya team about the wheelchair safety system for the elderly, where the system was developed using the Arduino board. Lastly, the team from Universiti Putra Malaysia had demonstrated an IoT supervision device for senior citizens remotely. IEEE CASS Malaysia Chapter would like to express the greatest gratitude to the mentors and juries who helped advise and judge the SDC projects during the design competition.
The live demonstrations by the Student Design Competition top three finalist teams from Institute Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia (Top Left Photo), Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya, Indonesia (Top Right Photo), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (Bottom Photo)
This was followed by the award ceremony that announced the winners and the ‘People Choice Award’ for the SDC and the top three quiz winners. The 1st place and the ‘People Choice Award’ were won by the Institute Teknologi Bandung team, while the 2nd and 3rd place were won by the Universiti Putra Malaysia team and Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya team, respectively. The event has ended with the closing remarks given by CASS Malaysia chapter chair Dr. Tang Tong Boon at 4:30 pm (GMT+8).
GeronCAS SDC 2021: 1st place award (Top Left Photo), 2nd place award (Top Right Photo), 3rd place award (Bottom Left Photo), and ‘People Choice Award’ (Bottom Right Photo).
Lim Yang Wei and Fakhrul Zaman Rokhani (email: fzr@upm.edu.my)
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Virtual Machine Learning Workshop for Non-Programmers
The fact that currently, everything around us runs on data, machine learning has drawn professionals from all backgrounds. Realizing the importance, members of Region 10 IEEE CAS had conducted a machine learning crash-course for non-programmers on Dec 7th, 2021. The course covered the introduction to artificial intelligence and was followed by a hands-on machine learning tutorial using RapidMiner software. The 1-day virtual crash course, held via an online zoom platform, included the practical way of utilizing machine learning to analyze complex data in agriculture and business.
The program was organized by IEEE Circuit and System Society (CAS) Malaysia Chapter with the support from CFP Ventures Consortium Sdn. Bhd.
Figure 1. Participants were introduced to basic principles of machine learning using open-source software
Samsuzana Abd Aziz (email: samsuzana@upm.edu.my)