The project FOD (Friends Of Deaf) won the Start Up Lab Demo Day, the competition run by the University of Trento to incentivize student performance.
The FOD team gained a place a the international competition Virginia Tech KnowledgeWorks, which takes place on August 18.
Leaving for the US are Matilda Sulmeta, Mila Jankovic, Asad Ur Rahman e Yatindra Shashi. Two students on the Master in International Management degree and two students on the Master’s degree in Telecommunications have put together their ideas and skills and worked on the project at the StartUp Lab since September.
The goal of FOD is to develop an app that gives deaf people a safer driving experience, using a smartphone to decode acoustic signals such as horns and sirens, which are otherwise difficult for them to perceive.
“We are thinking of extending the idea beyond driving” says Mila, adding “We are planning to make an agreement with a producer of bracelets so that the app can be used outdoors to signal fire alarms or other dangers for people who are deaf or hard of hearing”.