The AI Robotics Vision and Automation Technology Challenges Competition 2021 identified talented students in the area of statistics, AI, and data science

During the competition, students had a chance to apply theories to real world practices that might stimulate inspirations and create impacts on our society.

The Data Science Lab (DSL) of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science (SAAS) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has successfully organised the “AI Robotics Vision and Automation Technology Challenges Competition 2021” in collaboration with various companies and corporate sponsors, including Marvel Digital AI Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Mainland China and Hong Kong), Power Hub Ltd, Vision Real Capital Limited, Kinth Technology Ltd, etc.

Being held for the first time, the competition provided students with real industrial problems to which they have to develop innovative AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (The Internet of Things) solutions by integrating science, AI technology, engineering, statistics and mathematics. There were two categories of contestants, one for students of HKU Master of Data Science and Master of Statistics programmes, another one for students of local secondary schools in STEM education.

With the mentoring from the academic staff in the Data Science Lab, industrial partners, and education leaders of the Association of I.T. Leaders in Education, there were a total of 30 groups of contestants participated in the Competition with very high quality proposals and outcomes.

After the Competition, Dr Danny HA of the Academy of Professional Certification will offer a mentorship workshop to the winning teams on how to set up a start-up and look for potential funds. The DSL will continue to mentor these students on their innovative entrepreneurship journey.

“Our Data Science Lab promotes education through applied research and company consultancy. We teach our students through (i) accelerated learnings (e.g. competition, capstone projects, internship, and consultancy), (ii) company and multi-disciplinary collaborations and innovations (STEMIP - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Innovation, Practical), and (iii) applying theories to real practices to create values and impacts to our society,” said Dr Eddy LAM, Director of HKU SAAS Data Science Lab.

“Studying should not aim at the grades. Ability to put theories and knowledge into practise is more important.” said Professor Guosheng YIN, Head of HKU Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.

“The HKU’s (3+1)Is strategy integrates Internationalisation, Innovation and Interdisciplinarity to create collective Impact. Our Data Science Lab adds a novel STEMIP education model to the HKU (3+1)Is strategy to put the conceptual ideas into practice.” said Dr Adela LAU, Deputy Director of HKU SAAS Data Science Lab.

For more details about the winning proposals and the Competition, please visit here. 

The winning team of the university category, with Dr Eddy Lam, Director of the HKU SAAS Data Science Lab (second from the right) and Dr Adela Lau, Deputy Director of the HKU SAAS Data Science Lab (fourth from the right).

The winning team of the secondary school category, with Professor Guosheng Yin, Head of HKU Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science (leftmost), Dr Eddy Lam, Director of HKU SAAS Data Science Lab (rightmost), Dr Adela Lau, Deputy Director of HKU SAAS Data Science Lab (second from the right), and Mr Tung-Shek Wong, STEM teacher of Heung To Secondary School – Tseung Kwan O (third from the right).

Winning Project of University Group:  

AI in Behavioural Intelligence - Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Analyser

By Dr Adela LAU (Mentor), Jason Jin An CHAN, Si Man TONG, Tsin Wai YAU, and Tsz Hin CHAN from the MSc in Statistics Program of Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science of HKU

The Master of Statistics programme of the HKU SAAS Department developed an Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Analyser to analyse the facial expression of the candidates during interview, to assess the candidate’s job knowledge with written assessment, and to calculate and visualise the candidate’s overall performance respectively, which can help the interviewees to achieve better performance at job interviews.

STEMIP Junior Nurture Program and Winner of Secondary School Group: 

AI in Smart City - Driver Drowsiness Detection System

By Tung Shek WONG (Mentor), Ho Shun Louisa LOUIE, Lo Yi Tiffany WONG, Chun Ting Issac WONG, Hin Wing Max TIN, Chung Ho Danny TSANG from Heung To Secondary School – Tseung Kwan O

The system can detect and analyse drivers’ drowsiness by simple arithmetic operation. Transport companies can then analyse the statistics and schedule the rest time of the drivers to ensure that no driver works in a fatigue status. The experimental results showed that the system is able to detect the driver’s drowsiness with 95% accuracy, even when the driver wears a mask or glasses.