Students’ apps to help elderly, people with intellectual disabilities win Dell InnovateFest contest

SINGAPORE – Like many seniors, Mr Ryan Lai’s grandmother lives alone and is digitally illiterate.

“My grandmother often feels lonely as she spends most of her weekdays by herself as (my family and I) are studying or working,” the 25-year-old computing science student said.

“Also, she doesn’t know how to look for apps on her mobile phone because she’s not tech-savvy at all. When I tell her to message me on WhatsApp, I tell her to click on the ‘green button’ instead of using the word ‘WhatsApp’.”

This is one of the reasons Mr Lai and his team from the Singapore Institute of Technology (University of Glasgow Singapore) developed an app for seniors, which lets them sign up for activities organised by active ageing centres and community centres near their homes.

Dubbed JioTogether, the app will help seniors who currently rely on word of mouth to find out about such activities and who typically have to make their way down to these centres to register their interest.

The app will also allow seniors to volunteer and interact with other participants of such activities.

Organisations such as Lions Befrienders, active ageing centres and community centres can promote their activities by uploading pictures of their brochures or posters onto the app, which will then extract relevant details such as the time and venue, and add the activities to a list on the app.

Ten teams from local polytechnics and universities participated in Dell Technologies’ InnovateFest competition held here on Sept 26.

Now in its second year, the competition aims to get young people to use technology to address societal issues. Partnering with social service agencies Minds and Lions Befrienders, the competition aimed to tackle social isolation faced by seniors and people with intellectual disabilities (PWIDs).

Mr Lai’s team, Team 343 – with other members Adrian Pang, Tng Jian Rong, Peter Febrianto Afandy, Lionel Sim and Muhammad Nur Dinie Aziz, all 24 years old and in their final year of computing science studies – used Dell’s cloud infrastructure and Nvidia’s artificial intelligence services to develop their app, beating entries from four other teams in the university category.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who presented the winners with their awards, emphasised the importance of human interaction and compassion in reaching out to seniors, before introducing digital solutions to them.

The community must combine digital and analogue ways to help seniors stay active, he added.

“When we are able to befriend them, when we are able to bring them to an active ageing centre, then I think the digital stuff will start to come in,” Mr Ong said.

“You can entertain them, stimulate their minds, get them to exercise with all kinds of technology. But that first step of (getting to know) them and bringing them to a centre is essential.”

Lions Befrienders executive director Karen Wee said her organisation is interested in working with all five teams from the university category to develop their solutions further. She said the competition is a very important platform to encourage talent and creativity, so that more youth can grow and develop their digital skills, which they can use to uplift society.

Team 343 and Team Snoopy from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, which won the top prize in the polytechnic category, each won $10,000.

The polytechnic team’s SocialCompass app helps PWIDs who struggle with social skills, such as reading facial expressions or seeking help with directions when commuting.

It teaches them to interact with others through guided scenarios such as chatting with friends and formal meetings with employers in various settings such as workplaces, healthcare institutions, food establishments and places of leisure.

Team Snoopy comprises second-year information technology diploma students Ong Meng Li, 20; Quah Ming Hui, 18; Caden Toh, 18; Rafol Emmanuel Legaspi, 19; SethuSomaSundaram Sairam, 18; and Noel Yap, 18.

In future, PWIDs might be able to use the app to book a virtual or physical session with staff or volunteers from Minds to practise what they have learnt.

Dr Vimallan Manokara, director of the Minds Institute – the research and innovation arm of Minds – said his organisation is keen to establish an internship with one or two student participants from the competition, to support the further development of their prototype app.

Minds hired a student from the winning team of the 2023 competition as an intern to improve the team’s prototype app. Dubbed SportTogether, the app aims to bring PWIDs and community volunteers together to participate in physical activities such as basketball within the community. Minds plans to launch the app in March 2025.

“Apps like SocialCompass help to alleviate barriers of social communication for people with intellectual disabilities and autism where, using technology, they are able to learn these skills and relearn these skills from time to time,” Dr Manokara added.

“That’s very important, because very often, especially with intellectual disabilities, they need to relearn skills to apply them effectively in different social contexts.”