The World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth (WAICY) 2021 (https://www.waicy.org/) took place online on Saturday, November 20, 2021. Students from 32 countries presented 526 team or individual projects, in three categories: for Elementary School, Junior High School and High School. Six awards were awarded to each category.

The College participated in the competition with the three-member team of: Chrysoula Vamvaka and Christiana Georgakopoulou, both in Grade 11 of Athens College and  Amalia-Christina Toutziaridi, IB1 student in Psychico College.

The High School team, with their project navigAld!, won the Gold Award and the AI Excellence award, the highest distinctions in the High School category. The team developed this app on Swift, so it can run on mobile devices. Its aim is to support visually impaired people while they navigate a city or a store. The app uses a smartphone’s camera to detect shops (for example pharmacies, kiosks, supermarkets) and informs the user through a sound notification.

It can also identify and inform the user of large objects, such as traffic lights and signs with useful information (ex. street signs). Finally, it can also assist with financial transactions and payments, since it can recognize different bank notes even when they are folded, and notify the user.

Mr. Andreas Karampelas, Computer Science teacher at Athens College High School, was responsible for the coordination and guidance of the team. He was also selected as National Organizer, in collaboration with the Competition’s organizers and the AI Lab (http://datacron1.ds.unipi.gr:9083/ai-lab/) in which he participates.

The Athens College School Direction and Teachers’ Association extend our warmest congratulations to all those involved!