By Amaka Abayomi

Otaru Babatunde, Oyatope Blessing, Shoaga Victor, and Ayodele Obasegun of Team Humane of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have won the National Finals of the 2016 edition of Microsoft Nigeria Imagine Cup.

Now in its ninth year, Microsoft Imagine Cup is the premier students’ technology programme and competition, and a cornerstone of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative which provides the opportunity for student technologists, developers and aspiring entrepreneurs to collaborate, develop a technology application, create a business plan and gain a keen understanding of what is needed to bring a concept to market.  Competing in the World Citizenship Category, Team Humane came up with a solution for the visually impaired which enables them to interact and navigate freely on their mobile phones.

The solution comes with an accompanying hardware known as the Humane handle, which interacts with apps installed on a device using Bluetooth. A visually impaired person would be able to navigate through various apps installed on his/her mobile phone using the handle and an integrated voice navigation system.

According to the team lead, Ayodele Obasegun, “we were concerned about solving a major challenge hence we embark on this project. We have been developing solutions for various organizations and we felt a need to impact our community and the world as a whole, thus, this solution for the visually impaired which was initially targeted at gaming for the visually impaired, but later we felt we can do more than gaming.”

Also speaking, Director, Developer Evangelism, Microsoft Nigeria, Shina Oyetosho, explained that “Microsoft  is committed in empowering students to become the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and developers, and the competition inspires student developers around the world to create innovative solutions that change the way we live, work and play while also growing the skills they need to pursue a future in technology.”