It is often said that if you are determined enough, and doing something you are passionate about, you can achieve anything. It is tempting to be a cynic and dismiss this as a cliche pulled from a motivational speaker’s handbook. However, some people take the advice to heart and strive to achieve great things.
Take Huda Ahmed Flatah, a 22-year-old from Riyadh who recently graduated in biology at Taibah University in Madinah. Her irrepressible passion goes far beyond the subject she studied; she is fascinated by robotics. In particular, the development and programming of robots to, as she puts it, “serve humans and make people’s lives easier.”
Flatah is the founder of Robot Helper, an initiative to develop and program a robot that provides a tangible benefit to society.
“I programmed a robot to help visually impaired and blind people,” she said. “It acts like a companion to the blind and visually impaired. It guides the person to ensure the safety of people. For example: ‘Take care there is a stair in front of you.’ ‘There is a person coming, go right, go left.’ I am still working on it to add more services it can provide to help people with this type of disability.
“I wanted to help people achieve independence through robots. Based on that, I received a scholarship from the adviser of Makkah emir and KAUST general manager. I was chosen as one of the best 10 inventors with innovative projects this year in Saudi Arabia. Now, I am working on ways to enhance it and add more services so it can help people and the community.”
Flatah was also part of the Madinah team for the 2017 International Space Apps Challenge. The competition was held in Riyadh, Madinah, Jeddah and Eastern Province at the same time with live broadcasts from all the other countries participating.
This is NASA’s annual “hackathon” event, held in cities around the world, which challenges space and technology enthusiasts to use freely available scientific data to develop innovative, open-source resources that can improve the quality of life on Earth and advance space exploration.
“We were a team and they showed us some environmental problems and we tried to solve them,” said Flatah. “We chose the high temperatures in Saudi Arabia and wasted energy as a problem to solve.
“We created Save Solar System Smartly, which relies on two data-set resources: NASA’s prediction of the weather, and the sensors in smart homes. When the sun releases its energy, solar panels absorb this energy and save it in a smart battery to control devices in a smart home. When the battery is charged it deploys the Internet of Things (IOT) concept to manage everything in the house, including lighting, air-conditioning, opening and closing doors and windows, and so on.”
IOT refers to networks of devices, appliances and other items fitted with technology and connectivity that enables them to exchange data, which can help to increase efficiency, and running costs, among other benefits.
“If the battery gets low or is about to run out, the system’s artificial intelligence informs the IOT system to reduce the consumption of energy from it,” said Flatah.
For its efforts, the team was awarded first place among entrants from Saudi Arabia.
Flatah was also ranked the top robot programmer in Saudi Arabia in a national competition titled “ball collector robot game” in 2017.
Her ambition is to help create a culture that encourages innovation in robotics. She is presenting educational workshops at King Abdul Aziz & his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity on how to program a robot, to expand knowledge of the technology and its potential uses and benefits.
SOURCE : ARABNEWS
