Microsoft Imagine Cup: Jacobs University students win World Championship
May 25, 2022
Two first year undergraduate students at Jacobs University secured first place at the finals of the international Microsoft Imagine Cup 2022 with their solution for treating hand paralysis. Zain A. Samdani studies Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the international university, his fellow student Ramin Udash Computer Science. Along with two other team members, they won $100,000 in prize money, a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and a $50,000 credit for the Microsoft cloud platform Azure.
The team, called V-Bionic, developed a robotic exoskeleton, a support structure for the hand, paired with a user-friendly app to provide portable, accessible, and affordable recovery. "After using it, many patients felt sensations in their paralyzed hand on the first day," said Zain A. Samdani.
The Microsoft Imagine Cup is considered the “Olympics of Technology” for students and is considered one of the top competitions and awards related to technology and software design. More than 10,000 applications from 160 countries were received for the competition, in which students seek solutions to important global challenges. On March 31, 2022, V-Bionic participated in the regional finals with the 16 best teams from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. There, they took first place in both the health category and the overall ranking – and qualified for the World Championship in Seattle, USA. In the finals, they competed against two teams from the Americas and Asia, and managed first place after their pitch and Q&A session.
Find out more about the team and project:
https://imaginecup.microsoft.com/en-us/Team/a68a2bb3-4003-4268-82ff-9696eafbe842
Watch the finals:
https://imaginecup.microsoft.com/en-us/main