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UAE: Tech students showcase wearables for deaf, blind

Each innovative research addresses critical real-life problems

An Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered wearable communication device for the deaf and blind and an advanced server-less chatbot system designed with natural language understanding capabilities to help patients locate hospitals with available beds. These were among the innovative research projects showcased by female students of Abu Dhabi University (ADU) at a recent virtual international conference.

The 7th Annual International ArabWIC Conference, held virtually by Sharjah University, sought to highlight the contributions of Arab women in computing and technology. It saw six teams of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Computer Science and Information Technology Department and the Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Department at ADU’s College of Engineering display their advanced AI and distributed systems projects and research efforts.

The projects included ‘Jusoor: a wearable communication device for the deaf and blind' which was developed by students Fatima Abdelmagid, Hamda Fasla and Huda Khafaji. Jusoor is an AI-powered system assisting the deaf and blind to have natural communication with peers through instantaneous conversations.

Another project - the UAE e-Learning Sentiment Analysis Framework - was developed by students Dana Wehbe, Hajer AlMaskari, Kholoud AlSeriedi and Ahmed AlHammadi. It provides real-time insights into the public’s emotions and opinions concerning the e-learning process in the UAE through sentiment analysis of social media content to help empower decision-makers and education regulators.

The third project, Covisstance Chatbot, developed by Farah Shaik and Arooba Khalid, is an advanced serverless chatbot system designed with natural language understanding capabilities to help patients locate hospitals with available beds and resources.

Students Rawan Elabyad, Nada Hussein and Salma Abdelhalim developed a serverless academic advisor chatbot which aims to alleviate the burden imposed on academic advisors' post Covid-19 by allowing college students to virtually enquire about academic matters through a Microsoft Teams-powered virtual assistant.

Each project addressed critical real-life problems through the use and implementation of advanced AI models and cutting-edge technologies such as serverless computing.

Other research papers

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering student Maha Yaghi also presented her research paper titled 'Motion Tracked 3D Visualisation System for Segmented ROI in Medical Imaging' during the meeting. Her research proposes an analysis system for visualising the output of 3D segmented abnormalities within associated computer diagnoses.

Tasnim Basmaji, Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering student, presented her research paper 'Towards Urgent and Rapid Deployment of Contactless IoT Elevator Control Panel during Pandemics'. Her study proposes a contactless elevator control system to decrease the risk of coronavirus transmission while using an elevator.

Commenting on the students' participation at the conference, Dr Hamdi Sheibani, the Dean of the College of Engineering, said: “As a university that inspires creativity and encourages innovation, our students have produced ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions while employing advanced technologies.

“In the College of Engineering, we aim to foster a community of learners who are devoted to solving some of the most complex engineering challenges.”

ismail@khaleejtimes.com