APCORE Team Emerges Amongst Top Six Finalists In Keysight Innovation Challenge 2022

APCORE members Kong Jee Ann, Jamie Yong How Peng, Wong Hui Yee, and Bryce Cheah Wei Jing gained valuable experience in California even though they are all new to carbon monitoring, drone construction, and data logging; their Autonomous Carbon Monitoring Drone received some of the highest votes in the IoT challenge, allowing them to advance to the grand finals.


Middle from left: Bryce Cheah Wei Jing, Kong Jee Ann, Jamie Yong How Peng, Wong Hui Yee, and Ir. Kumaresan Magaswaran (mentor) pose with their appreciation plaque and Keysight Innovation Challenge 2022 jury.

Members of the Asia Pacific Centre of Robotic Engineering (APCORE) Kong Jee Ann (Computer Science in Intelligent System), Jamie Yong How Peng (Computer Engineering), Wong Hui Yee (Information Technology) and Bryce Cheah Wei Jing’s (Foundations in Engineering) life has changed dramatically since they emerged as the Top 6 teams in the Keysight Innovation Challenge 2022 grand finale in Santa Rosa, California. 

The challenge was organised by Keysight Technologies Inc., a leading technology company that provides advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world.

Through this competition, the ‘Four Musketeers’ discovered many new things and admitted that taking part in the international challenge taught them many new values and was the most valuable experience they had since studying at Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU).

“We entered this competition without high expectations. We simply wanted to give our best effort and had no idea that we would gain new and valuable experience. 

“Meeting new friends and participants from various backgrounds opened our eyes to many things. The friendship, laughter, and bond that we formed is extremely valuable. It is no longer a competition but a learning camp programme,” said Kong Jee Ann.

APU team was chosen as one of the top six teams from 52 entries and 2,100 registrants from 106 countries.

She spoke on behalf of the team and expresses gratitude to the entire APU community, especially Lee En Hao, Ng Khang Yian, and Lam Ca Ven who helped with the drone hardware and Loo Yew Sen who helped with image processing, as well as other members of the APCORE, for allowing them to advance to the grand finale of the innovation challenge.

In this year’s challenge, all teams must submit details of an IoT innovation that provides carbon neutrality corporate site monitoring, multi-site monitoring, or community monitoring.

The device must communicate wirelessly, be easy to deploy by a non-expert in a secure manner and handle sensitive data via a detailed written plan and a short video showcasing their innovation. 

Sensor effectiveness, AI capabilities, and cybersecurity resilience will be evaluated, with device prototypes evaluated by Keysight’s IoT Security Assessment software.

Furthermore, the challenge in preparing the Autonomous Carbon Monitoring Drone is not easy because they are unfamiliar with carbon monitoring, building drones, and data logging. In fact, they admit that what they have learned while competing in this challenge is only the tip of the iceberg.

From left: Kong Jee Ann, Wong Hui Yee, Jamie Yong How Peng, Ir. Kumaresan Magaswaran, and Bryce Cheah Wei Jing pose with the Autonomous Carbon Monitoring Drone they co-created. 

Despite their lack of knowledge and experience, they are still confident with their drone because they received a lot of help from APCORE members, who sometimes pointed them in the right direction, especially their mentor Ir. Kumaresan Magaswaran and other lecturers.

They realised that, in addition to good design, they needed to work on their persuasive and presentation skills. 

“Because the competition is also streamed live and there are many professional judges present, we initially feel nervous and anxious, which affects our presentation. 

“Basically, our drone is ready and before flying to Santa Rosa, we have already improved and upgraded it with all of the necessary elements,” she said.

“So, in the future, we will overcome our anxieties and continue to work on improving and expanding our drone project, as well as competing in any future competitions.”

APU students and APCORE members designed the Autonomous Carbon Monitoring Drone, which has the intelligence to analyse carbon footprint, flood areas, and other factors.

According to Ir. Kumaresan, he was proud of his student’s achievements especially when they managed to complete the additional futures such as a carbon dioxide detection system, autonomous flight, and other smart futures. 

“This competition allowed them and other students who assisted them to gain valuable experience with autonomous drones.

“If things line up in the future, they may be able to launch their own drone start-up in Malaysia, as it is currently one of the emerging sectors,” he explained.

The Illinois Institute of Technology (USA) took first place with Tree of Life: Carbon Capture, followed by the State University of New York at Buffalo (USA) with Piezo-cantilever Sensor for Real-time Monitoring of 8 Greenhouse Gasses with LoRa Communication and Vanderbilt University (USA) with EcoBuddy: IoT OBD2 Monitoring Device for Fuel Efficiency and Emission Consciousness.

The first-place winner receives USD$30,000 (RM135,240) in cash, followed by USD$25,000 (RM112,700) for second place and USD$20,000 (RM90,160) for third place, with all Top 3 winners also receiving USD$10,000 (RM45,080) in Keysight solutions for their university.

Warsaw University of Technology (Poland) with its Cloud-Integrated Pollution Analyzer, APU (Malaysia) with its Autonomous Carbon Monitoring Drone, and KCG College of Technology (India) with its Carbon Neutrality were named as the finalist teams.

University Malaysia Sabah (UMS), UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College (UOW Malaysia KDU), and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) also submitted entries, but APU is the only Malaysian/South East Asian university to advance to the final round of this competition, which had 52 entries and 2,100 registrants from 106 countries.

Besides APU (Malaysia), the top 6 teams also include Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Vanderbilt University (USA), The State University of New York (USA), Illinois Institute of Technology (USA), and KCG College of Technology (India).