By: M. Amiruddin Aziz
SERDANG, Feb 10 – Team Salvus from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has emerged as the grand winner of the ‘#ShellSelamatSampai Varsity Challenge 2021’ competition.
The annual competition was organised by Shell Malaysia since 2017 as an initiative to mitigate road safety issues and at the same time to empower Malaysian tertiary students.
UPM’s Team Salvus comprised Nurul Faqihah Hambali, Kiang Fei Yi, Siti Aishah Husna, Mas Athirah Mohd Hisban, and Nurul Syamilah Azman, won the title of a Grand Champion through their innovative project entitled ‘Anti-Drunk and Sleep Detector (ADS)’.
The project witnessed the creation of a device that can identify alcohol-impaired drivers or drivers who are dozing off at the wheel by detecting the alcohol and oxygen levels of a driver to determine if the driver is in the right condition to drive.
UPM’s Team Salvus also thanked Shell Malaysia for introducing the NXplorers initiative as well as revealing new thinking tools and problem-solving methodologies that played an important role in the implementation of the project.
UPM’s Team Salvus hoped that the innovation would be used by Malaysians towards creating a safer journey for everyone on the road.
Team Salvus was among the top five teams for this year’s event, competing with students from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UMS), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTEM), and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).
Prior to the final round, UPM had six teams competing in the Top 20 round of the competition.
At the Top 20 stage, Shell Malaysia provided each team with RM1,000 to transform their ideas into working prototypes within eight weeks. A panel of judges then selected the top five teams to advance to the finals.
Chairman of Shell Malaysia, Ivan Tan, said road safety had become a major concern in Malaysia and other countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) records approximately 1.3 million deaths each year due to road accidents.
"At Shell, we are seeking to reduce road accidents in the country by empowering our youth to use technology to design innovative interventions to prevent road-related accidents," he said.
The ‘Shell Varsity Challenge’ competition drew participation from universities across Malaysia and had introduced many prototypes of innovative projects aimed at helping to improve road safety conditions. - UPM
