Students from INTI International College Penang celebrated a tremendous achievement when they were awarded National Champion for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) track at Innovate Malaysia 2021, an engineering design competition open to final year students in Malaysia.
The competition witnessed entries from 274 teams from 27 universities nationwide, but only 36 teams were shortlisted as finalists – including INTI’s team from the School of Engineering and Technology, comprising Sim Jin Yi, Tan Hoe Theng, and Jayson Sawat, who are pursuing the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computer Science.
Sim Jin Yi, Tan Hoe Theng, and Jayson Sawat, who are pursuing the Bachelor of Science (Hons) Computer Science programme at INTI International College Penang, emerged as National Champion for the AWS Track at the Innovate Malaysia 2021 Competition
“Winning the competition was unexpected! The competition was very challenging but also rewarding. The best part of the experience was undeniably the new technologies we learned through the development of the project.
“The feedback and guidance from our supervisors were also very insightful and allowed us to reflect on our ideas throughout the process. I look forward to participating in a competition like this again in the future to gain more valuable experience,” shared Sim Jin Yi.
The group collected a dataset on the images of cats and dogs to test and refine the accuracy of the pet matching process in the system. In the image (from left) are Tan Hoe Theng, Sim Jin Yi and Jayson Sawat
The group captured the interest of the judges through their project titled “Pet Lost & Found System”, a free mobile app that was created to help reunite pets with their owners through Image Processing with AWS and AI Technology.
“Being part of the team was most exciting. Knowing that my teammates were on the top students’ list, it felt was an honour to work with them on a project based on my idea. It was a proud moment knowing our team had won the first prize and allowed me to showcase my video-making skills aside from my field of study.
“There’s a movie quote that I especially like and feel would be a good fit here – ‘You can take it,you can make it.’ Even with such a simple innovative idea, we managed to make it to the championship,” echoed Jayson Sawat.
Meanwhile, Tan Hoe Theng shared that the contest provided them an avenue to gain knowledge in various areas.
Final judging session for the AWS track where the team won first prize
“This project was challenging and stressful. As we were newbies to Artificial Intelligence (AI), there is a huge learning curve. The best part of the competition is learning new knowledge, learning is more important than winning.
”Besides that, the competition gave us the chance to get to know more people from other universities and colleges. I look forward to participating in future competitions with my team members,” added Tan Hoe Theng.
Chai Yoon Yik and Koo Lee Chun, the group’s advisors and senior lecturers from INTI International College Penang’s School of Engineering and Technology lauded the ability of students to learn quickly and pick up essential skills during the pandemic.
“They are a group of self-motivated, competent, and determined students. Their passion, willingness to learn, and determination has made the team a winner in this competition,” added Chai Yoon Yik.
Q&A session with panel of judges from various organisations
Meanwhile, Hemalatha Murugiah, Chief Executive of INTI International College Penang commended the team on their win and shared that such competitions allowed students to continue learning outside the classroom.
“At INTI, we are committed to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, which is not only learnt in the classroom but also during time spent participating in external activities.
“Through this competition, our students were able to think creatively to address real life problems with real life solutions. I’m very proud of the team for all the hard work they have put into their project. We expect to see great things from them in the future,” she said.
INTI International University & Colleges believes in nurturing tomorrow’s leaders today by consistently providing opportunities for personal development through intervarsity competitions. Competitions such as Innovate Malaysia 2021 have encouraged students to be innovative in engineering design to tackle real-world problems, while also churning out bright talent for product development, research, and commercialization.