Microsoft announces winners of embedded competition

Finalists of the third annual Windows Embedded Student ChallengE were recently announced in a ceremony at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The competition challenged teams of undergraduate students worldwide to create Windows CE-based embedded devices.

This year's competition attracted 367 entries from 17 countries, of which 68 percent came from Asia-Pacific, including Australia, China, India and Singapore. The competition is said to have received positive response from China, with a total of 240 entries. The final round had 30 teams of which 19 were from APAC countries including Australia, China and India.

The grand prize went to team "44 Tech" of Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania, for their project 'Forest Watcher.'

Team "Stars" of Xidian University and "BUPTUNITED" of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications China emerged as the third and fifth place winners respectively. Team "Stars" conceptualized a controlled street lamp lighting system while team "BUPTUNITED" developed ACES, an A1coal mine enhancing system that collects and analyzes environmental data, and aims to detect potential health risks to mineworkers.

These teams will receive cash awards ranging from $2,400 to $8,000.