Four high ranking ICT students have earned their right to represent Malta in the Microsoft Imagine Cup Innovation competition following their participation in the national final held at the Microsoft Innovation Centre last Friday. The team was composed of Dylan Abela, Albert Herd, Keith Mifsud, and Mark Andrew Azzopardi, and was mentored by ICT lecturer Ranier Bonnici.
The Imagine Cup competition challenges students around the globe to think outside the box to come up with innovative software solutions. The project presented by MCAST’s team was aimed at rendering interior design more immersive by augmenting 3D objects (furniture and fittings) to any shell environment. Keith used the Microsoft Kinect to automate the scanning of 3D models. Albert worked on a hand gesture recognition API that acted as the main interface of the system. Dylan merged the software in a Unity project that could be experienced in 3D through an Oculus Rift head-mounted display. Mark was responsible for the presentation of the project in front of the judges.
In his conclusive remarks, the head of the judging team hailed the project as one of the most technically advanced that have been presented for the local Imagine Cup competition.