The first year of operation of the laboratory in Zhytomyr and its outcomes

On Nov 28, 2019, the scientific and technical laboratory within the network of Noosphere Engineering School was officially opened in cooperation with Polissia National University. It has been the first year of its operation: 
365 days — 26 "sprints"; and, for this period, the highly promising projects were born here. 

In this article, we will tell you about the most interesting of them. 

HOMER

Project team develops the electronic Braille display in the form of raised dots with the software designed for educational purposes. "Homer" device is aimed to address the problem with difficult-to-access printed materials for blind people, and, as a result, with the illiteracy that prevails among the visually impaired persons. The idea of the invention is to develop the software with the extended educational features and electronic Braille display of larger size.

 • Team members are, as follows:
- Pavlo Fedorenko, Software & Hardware Engineer;
- Svyatoslav Kolosivskyi, Business Analyst, SMM.

 • Project status: in Sep 2020, "Homer" received funding for partial purchase of the hardware required to implement their idea as a part of “Maisternia Mista Zhytomyr 2020” urban cultural festival. Currently, MVP is under development.

CUSTOM WORLD

Custom World — an interactive sandbox created for education, entertainment and rehabilitation of children and adults. Its design enables to display different surfaces on the kinetic sand and, literally, interact with them. It’s really exciting! In the meantime, they created six interactive scenarios: images of the planets’ surfaces, stars, satellites and game modes.

Project history: they teamed up to develop an interactive hardware for the renovated Planetarium in Dnipro. The finished project was first represented at GoldenByte 2019 regional competition and won the nomination Startup Challenge. In the same year, the team presented its invention at BestRoboFest – robotic technology festival in Dnipro, where the wonder-sandbox drew a great deal of attraction of children and adults. 

 • Team members are, as follows:
- Valentyn Ukrainets, Team Lead & Software Developer;
- Olexander Shcherbaniuk, Graphic Designer & Hardware Developer;
- Karyna Sych, Product Manager;
- Vladyslav Varchuk, Software Developer.

 • Project (it’s already a startup) status: release of the first production sample for the renovated Planetarium in Dnipro.
In the meantime, Custom World startup team is working on two inventions of interactive stands of educational and entertainment purposes. Follow our news to find more details about this project.

SPACE SPHERE

Space Sphere — a spherical display created mostly to display space bodies. The surface of the spherical display shows the planets, satellites and stars. As for the planet Earth, the team of Space Sphere is going to display data on the weather and a trajectory of aircraft movement in real-time mode. This spherical display is aimed for museums, planetaria, educational institutions, entertainment areas, etc.
 • The team: the project is being developed by the team of Custom World startup
• Project status: MVP

MOON MIRROR

The interactive “mirror" MoonMirror follows in an unusual way the movements, silhouettes and patterns demonstrated by the spectator. The design of this “mirror” consists of small details in the form of the Moon of different colors. By turning these details, MoonMirror displays the spectator, following the silhouette and sequence of spectator’s movement. This invention will enable to diversify and enrich expo zones of museums, shopping and entertainment centers, art centers, etc. 
In this “mirror”, it is possible to replace the Moon by any other character at customer’s choice, to increase their number and density. Therefore, every new interactive mirror can have its own flavor.

• The team: the project is being developed by the team of Custom World startup
• Project status: development of MVP

FREELINE

FreeLine project works on addressing the problems which are often faced by the personnel and students of Ukrainian schools and higher educational institutions. It is about the search by students for the required lecture rooms and lecturers, or the search for the infrastructural objects (canteens, gyms, rest rooms, etc.). FreeLine is also aimed to systematize the information needed by students, lecturers and attenders of an educational institution. 
 • Team members are, as follows:
- Vitalyi Feldman, Team Lead, Developer;
- Oleg Talaver, Chief Developer
- Illya Drozd, qa;
- Natalia Durova, Designer, Developer.
 • Project status: development of MVP

SMASH CAN

 SmashCan — a software and hardware complex for storage of wastes of different types. The device consists directly of "smart can" equipped with the sensors to monitor the level of filling of the can, and a powerful press for efficient use of can capacity. SmashCan will enable to reduce the volume of waste in the can and will even analyze the morphological composition of the waste. At the same time with saving the space and time on waste removal, this device will also enable to reduce the number of waste bags and their costs as well as costs on their transportation. SmashCan mobile application will ensure the development of the users’ ecological competencies owing to educational games, visualized efficiency of using the can, taking into consideration a benefit to the environment (a number of rescued animals, plants, etc.) 
• Team members are, as follows:
- Darya Vyakhireva, Designer, SMM; 
- Vadym Volnytskyi, Hardware, Software; 
- Mykola Zushchyk, Software;
• Project status: development of MVP

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All the above-listed projects are being developed at the Engineering School in Zhytomyr based on Polissia National University. If you have any project to be implemented in Zhytomyr (as well as in other cities of Ukraine), please contact our local mentors or fill out the application form on our website: noosphereengineering.com/launch-project

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P.S. The team of Noosphere Engineering School is grateful to Polissia National University and its Rector Oleg Skydan for effective cooperation. The first year of operation of the scientific and technical laboratory in Zhytomyr was very productive. This year has assured us that the history of the Engineering School based on PNU will continue into an interesting future, full of students’ promising projects.