A group of Ballakermeen High School students has won an artificial intelligence (AI) award.

AI is the development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence.

The Intel Corporation AI Innovators Award recognises Junior Achievement teams who have used AI tools in a ‘responsible way’ to create a ‘purposeful solution’ that addresses a local or global challenge.

The four A-level students joined together as part of the Junior Achievement Company Programme, known as Young Enterprise in the UK, which sees young people set up their own small businesses to gain skills and prepare for working life.

Junior Achievement is a Manx charity that supports young people in schools, and raises funds to help 4,000 students on the Isle of Man.

Danielle Wilkinson, Leo Dixon, Freddie Smith and Praveen Balakrishnan, or Team Apollo, beat hundreds of teams across Europe by winning the prestigious award.

With all four learning to drive, they chose to design a product using AI that helps drivers stay safe at the wheel.

They wanted to create a product that was not just available for top of the range cars, but available to all vehicles.

hazards

To win this award Team Apollo developed a fully functional Heads Up Display (HUD) over the course of 12 months, which on a windscreen uses AI to scan the road and display upcoming hazards and warnings.

The team built the AI system from scratch and built and tested a protoype, demonstrating it to judges.

The creation, which they called Vision, projects essential driving information directly on to the windscreen, within the driver’s field of vision.

Michał Dżoga, Intel Poland Country Manager, announced the Manx team as victorious last week, describing their project as a ‘tremendous idea’.

Following this, the team will fly to Istanbul next month to attend the GEN-E festival, which is regarded as the ‘Olympics for young entrepreneurs’.

Praveen Balakrishnan, the technical manager of team Apollo, said the group were ‘thrilled to win’.

He added: ‘Our solution uses integrated AI, which we programmed from scratch, in a responsible way to enhance driver awareness and act as a trusted extra set of eyes.’

Danielle Wilkinson, the managing director of the group, said: ‘We’re all learning to drive so decided to see how AI could help motorists on any budget and not just those who could afford top of the range vehicles.’

Sue Cook, chief executive officer of Junior Achievement, said: ‘I am delighted that a team from the Isle of Man has won this prestigious award – it is a phenomenal achievement and testament to the hard work of the team and everyone involved in Junior Achievement.’