LiAise — Artificial Intelligence Camera Application for deaf and hard of hearing people (Technopreneurship Journey)
Since then, I have been an avid fan of Start-Ups; I get fascinated by how people create solutions to solve a community problem. This academic year, I am in my 3rd year of college, taking up a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. This semester, we have a course subject called Technopreneurship, which has been my favorite.
FIRST MEETING
During our first lecture, our Instructor introduced to us what this course is all about, where he highlighted the word,
Science and Technology-Based, Scalable, and Impactful.
Since then, these words have marked my mind. To build a solution wherein you get valid data(science), bring your program to the world as an IT student (technology-based), a product that is easy to distribute (scalable), and a solution that caters to the need of the people(impactful).
Our first two months' journey has been a roller coaster ride, especially when everything is online and the limited mobility we are experiencing. It is quite the same as our Instructor highlighted, "Your journey through this will not be linear as the major activity is to always talk to your customers."
Also, during this session, we were tasked to complete a self-assessment test—the BERKELEY INNOVATION INDEX and the PERSONALITY TEST to assess each strength and weakness, especially in forming a group.
Here's a snippet of my personality type result; with this result, my Team and I decided that I would be the group leader.
KNOWING WHO TO SERVE
During the 2nd week, I initiated our Ideation Meeting with the Team; during this time, we used the Design Thinking process — the ideation stage. I asked my Team to think of the most vulnerable sector at this time of the pandemic. We spent ample time during this discussion, as many were mentioned, including the Garbage Collectors, Sikad Drivers, Frontliners, Etc. We talked past midnight and ended the call that day; we decided to meet the next day.
The next day, we balanced and weighed each of the most vulnerable sectors we had mentioned in the past discussion. We define each of these sectors' status quo and put together all the necessary information to choose the industry we will focus on for our solution. We ended up having the Education, Vendors, and PWD left at our Jamboard. I asked my Team to present their solution(idea) to our chosen sector for our next meeting.
IDEATION PROCESS
Another week had passed, we were still puzzled about where and how we should start during this time. Walking along the street of Divisoria here in Cagayan de Oro City, I noticed deaf/mute people communicating using sign language, and I hardly know one. Those scenarios have been very relevant to me, especially this pandemic when we must wear a face mask, and lip-reading have been very hard for a deaf person.
As an avid fan of KDrama and Start-Ups, I remember watching the Netflix Series Start-Up; this movie gave me an idea of our solution.
During the night, my Team and I prepared our slides for the upcoming presentation. It was also around midnight when I messaged Kuya Dan, a Computer Engineer graduate of our University, to give us tips and tricks in starting our Technopreneurship journey. Luckily, he was vacant during that time, we then scheduled to have a virtual meeting.
We had learned a lot from Kuya Dan as he gave inputs and insights for us to get started in our journey; he told us what his most significant challenges are and how he had overcome them.
1st presentation
The next day is our first presentation, and the First Pitch of the project LIAISE with our Instructor, Engr. Bronson G. Mabulay last September; we were the first group to present.
During this presentation, our Instructor provided many insights to make our product better and into a reality. I clearly remember that Sir Bronson highlighted that we should start our design as soon as possible and start interviewing prospect users/customers to our product. He also gave us the contact details of the person who can help us.
MOVE CHALLENGE
A few days after our presentation, I received a message from my Facebook Friend, an invitation to the Concentrix MOVE Challenge. I asked our Instructor if we could join this competition, and we had received positive feedback. It is also an opportunity for us to validate our ideas.
CUSTOMER VALIDATION
We also started validating our data and started interviewing a lot of potential customers. I called another meeting with the Team to discuss our interview process. During this time, we watched and reviewed a video on Youtube, which I saw on the CET FB Page — the MOM Test.
"The mom test is about talking to your customers about their life, not your idea. If you can get useful business information from mom, you can get it from anyone." This phrase has marked our minds as we prepare ourselves for our customer validation phase.
I learned that in customer validation, you should not present your product first-hand, but ask for their challenges, what they are doing every day repetitively, and always listen to their stories. By the end of the day, you'll realize that there are common problem/s, not just one person is facing but almost all of them. It will help you re-ideate your proposed solutions to serve your target customers further and better.
It was a two-week-long customer validation done virtually. We interviewed SPED Teachers, SPED Students, and people who have a relative/friend who is deaf/mute. We ask them the following category.
- Challenges they have encountered.
- Experience/s communicating with deaf/mute people
- How is the way they communicate with them (And other follow-up questions)
MENTORING
A Series of consultations with our Instructor and mentors was done in preparation for the Concentrix MOVE Challenge.
Our Mentors:
DR. SOL DALONOS, 22 years as Special Education Teacher for the Deaf/Hearing Impaired Students and a Professor in Master of Arts in Teaching Special Education.
Ma'am Sol provided us with the information we needed, especially to validate our customers and product.
ENGR. JODIE FERNANDEZ, a Computer Engineer, College Instructor, and a Research Associate at the Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Engr. Jodie gave us insights and necessary information to develop our application, especially the use of Artificial Intelligence in integrating our application.
SIGFRED TONG, College Instructor and the Web Administrator of the University.
Sir Tong gave us tips, especially in the presentation stage.
Our Instructor:
ENGR. BRONSON G. MABULAY(Bronsonmabulay), Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Director — Innovation and Technology Solutions, Head — Center for Artificial Intelligence, Head — Center for Design & Engineering, Head — Center for Metals & Engineering Innovation.
Our Instructor is the first to believe in our innovation and continues to link us with different departments and opportunities to make this innovation possible.
DESIGNING AND WIREFRAMING
As the group leader, I will overlook all the necessary deliverables, but since we lack people because we are only four in the Team and one of our members does not have a signal in their area and equipment, some hold many caps.
Last week of September & in the 1st Week of October, we focused on the paper documents to be passed to the MOVE Challenge and the wireframing of our Prototype.
Together with Alyssa, we made the overall Prototype and Wireframe of our Application using Figma. There were challenges during this time as we reached a lot of frames — and my friends' PC could not load the file. I was able to back things up, and everything is back to normal. I also assigned John to do our Camera Prototype where some letters/phrases will be detected.
GRAND FINALS MOVE CHALLENGE
October 27— Midterm Presentation with our Instructor; during this time, I presented the 2nd presentation of our Pitch Deck. Sir Bronson told us to maximize the time given, try to omit what is less relevant to save up the time, especially if there are presentations that are very strict on time. Also, I learned that in delivering the pitch deck, you should be precise and concise.
October 29— -the Grand Finals of the Concentrix MOVE Challenge. Out of 26 schools who joined the said Challenge, we are part of the TOP 5. A lot of sleepless nights happened before this day.
I accomplished the Pitch well and answered the questions from the judges during the competition. The mentors also backed us up with other additional questions. Overall, we did well, and Congratulations to my Team for reaching this far.
PITCHING WORKSHOP FROM AIT
I joined a Pitching Workshop and Competition by the Asian Institute of Technology(AIT) in Thailand during the weekend. Aside from knowing the details about the AIT, I was able to gain more knowledge, especially in maximizing the 5 minutes for The Pitch.
University Cash Award
We also applied for the CASH AWARD of our University. Luckily we were selected.
TOP 3 MOVE CHALLENGE
Moving forward, we received an email from Concentrix that we are part of the Top 3!!! We were delighted and grateful to be part of the Top 3.
Together with Alyssa and with the help of Anthony Rivera, we decided to go to the University to plan and shoot for a 5-minute video that talks about the project and the innovation of the application that the Team is making.
Fast forward, during the Grand Finals Presentation, we were at the University to fully pitch our product and present it to the audiences of the Culmination event. The MOVE Team then announced that we were the 2nd Runner Up.
Right now, with the help of our University, we are in the development process of our application, and we will continue to validate our product to prospective customers.
Our application LIAISE a smartphone application that is capable of translating sign language into text in real-time. Through this, the hearing person will understand the signs and message the deaf person wants to convey.
This will further strengthen the smooth relationship and provide inclusivity to bridge the gap between the Deaf and hearing communities. This will then serve as the voice, eyes, and ears of both communities.
Communicate without boundaries with LIAISE — Listen and See through Artificial Intelligence.
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