Hackathon winners announced at LIMA 2019
LANGKAWI, 27 March 2019 – AirAsia and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s Aviatar 2019 aerospace hackathon winners have been announced at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) today.
Announced by AirAsia Deputy Group CEO (Technology and Digital) Aireen Omar and Ministry of International Trade and Industry Secretary General Dato’ Lokman Hakim Ali, team BringFly from University of Malaya emerged as grand prize winners for their best solution to the challenge of aviation in the future.
Team BringFly’s robot is the ultimate cabin and cleaning check solution. Complete with image recognition, the robot is able to identify and check life jackets are correctly stowed, perform vacuum and general cabin cleaning duties, as well as pin-point such issues to cabin crew. This solution will help to minimise the time it takes for aircraft cabin checks, ultimately helping to reduce impacts to the airline’s on time performance (OTP).
Team BringFly will travel to France later this year supported by GIFAS, where they will visit a number of aerospace companies including Airbus, Air France Industries, Daher, Safran, Thales, WeAre Group and SEMIA to further develop their idea. Runners up; team Deltas and 5G will also be provided the opportunity to expand on their ideas with leading aerospace companies in Malaysia and Japan.
AirAsia Deputy Group CEO (Technology & Digital) Aireen Omar said, “We are extremely impressed by the creative problem-solving and technical capability of these group of students. They have demonstrated some truly innovative thinking, and we look forward to seeing how these ideas can transform our industry.”
Ministry of International Trade and Industry Secretary General Dato’ Lokman Hakim Ali said, “Aviatar 2019 provides the best platform for university and secondary students to express their ideas, creativity and innovation in developing smart solutions for the aerospace industry. This effort is in line with the initiatives of the Malaysian Aerospace Industry Blueprint 2030 that emphasised on industry-led Research and Technology in order to develop new competencies.”
The hackathon was designed to foster aerospace innovation and creative thinking, bringing together more than 300 college and university students to explore and unlock digital-centric thinking around the future of aviation.
Aviatar 2019 is co-organised by AirAsia, the Education Ministry, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre and French Aerospace Industries Association (GIFAS), in collaboration with the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Invest Selangor, the Higher Education Department, and the National Aerospace Industry Coordinating Office.