Neosensory’s third contest, Feel the Future, has come to a close. After weeks of hard work, our top 4 contestants presented to a panel of expert judges made up of Dr. David Eagleman, Ashley Huffman, and Dr. David Parisi.
We are delighted to announce the winners.
Grand Prize
The winner was awarded $1,000 USD
Haptic CV
Dhruv Sheth
Cars have been equipped with all sorts of sensors to make them safer and smarter. Unfortunately, cyclists haven’t had the same benefits. Dhruv created a solution to help even the playing field and create a safer solution for the daily commute.
Haptic CV gives cyclists a feel for what is going on behind them through the use of computer vision. Information about the depth of vehicles behind the users is sent via Buzz to the skin, giving them accurate information about the dangers that may be speeding upon them.
Read Dhruv’s full write up here.
Following the grand prize, two projects were awarded the judges favorite prizes.
Judges Favorite + Audience Favorite
Valued at $250 USD + $250 USD
Baby Connect
Mithun Das
Mithun Das’s intriguing project explored using AAC to substitute hearing through Neosensory Buzz’s haptic feedback for deaf parents to connect with their kids. A companion app allows children to select different icons representing communication such as “hungry,” “thank you” and “help.” A haptic language developed by Mithun then turned the images selected on the tablet into vibrations through Buzz. He also used machine learning to classify different types of baby cries, providing instant feedback to Buzz. To top it all off, he also added voice input. This solution, thanks to its many different functions, would be helpful to hearing and deaf parents alike.
Read more about Mithun’s solution here.
Mithun impressed both the public and our judges by taking out prizes both prizes.
Judges Favorite
Haptapp Uploader
Ajay Verma
With a lifelong interest in language, Ajay Verma has developed a one-button keyboard. His ingenious solution projects the English alphabet into binary output, and each letter becomes a vibrational pattern. Ajay has created a game to help users quickly learn these patterns to become fluent in Haptapp. The responsiveness of Buzz’s haptic motors has taken Haptapp to the next level. Ajay’s exploration into rhythmic transmission has many applications, from speed reading to communication, and perhaps even communicating with your dog.
Read more about Ajay’s project here.
Special Award: Contribution to the community
NeoSensorium
Team Brains@Play
Garret and his team integrated Buzz into their existing Brains@Play web-based platform. Brains@Play allows you to connect EEG devices to visual and audio feedback. We are so excited about the open-source solution they have created, neosensory.js: a fully-featured JavaScript SDK for Buzz that includes helper functions to help you manage real-time data streams (you can try it out here!). This is a great contribution to the community which will allow for the quick prototyping of a myriad of ideas. To add to that, they have also developed a no code visual solution (including multiplayer) to make it even easier to get started in developing your own new senses.
Read more about the project here.
What’s next?
We look forward to seeing how our winners evolve their projects. There is so much to explore in the domain of sensory augmentation and addition.
We have something new in the works for our developers! Make sure you sign up to the Developers slack and the newsletter to hear all the latest news.
Thank you again to all those who participated in our Feel the Future contest and our magnificent judges.