A student team from Kyoto College of Computer Science and Graduate Institute of Information (KCGI) participated in Imagine Cup Japan, an IT contest for students hosted by Microsoft Corporation, held in Tokyo on March 22, 2017.This contest started in 2003 with the aim of connecting students' innovative ideas to innovation in the IT field, and this year's contest is the 15th.Teams from nine universities and colleges of technology, including KCGI, including the University of Tokyo and Tokyo Institute of Technology, which won the preliminary contest out of nearly 200 applications, participated in the competition.From the KCG Group, a team of students from Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG) won the 2013 Japan competition for developing a new game engine, and the KCGI team is aiming to win the competition for the second time.
Mr. Tom Oshidari, Mr. Takahiro Ueno, and Mr. Nepal Amanda participated in the conference, and Mr. Oshidari made a presentation on the automatic patrol robot for nursing homes as a representative.The robot automatically patrols the corridors of the nursing home during the night shift, when staff are scarce, and when it comes into contact with the body of a fallen resident, it notifies the staff member's smartphone through the Azure cloud computing system.The robot is made of Lego so that it can be easily repaired even if it is broken by a resident, and it is expected to reduce the workload of staff at nursing homes if it is put to practical use.Since the two winning teams will participate in the world championships in Seattle, they were required to give presentations in English, and Ms. Oshidari calmly gave a 10-minute presentation in English.The judges asked questions about the reason why they used Lego and the needs in the world market.
Unfortunately, the KCGI team was not able to obtain a ticket to the world championships, but the exhibition booth was visited one after another by students from other teams, judges, and people in charge of development from companies, who enthusiastically asked about the mechanism of the robot and its potential for commercialization, reflecting the reality of Japan's aging society.
