At a Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education workshop in St Francis Xavier Convent School, high-school girls designed many Internet of Things projects, such as a machine to cook eggs automatically, a pillow that can wake a sleeper in the morning with its vibrations, and a clothesline that can keep clothes dry by putting canvas up when it's raining. The software program Maker Playground is a tool behind the girls' successes.
Created and developed by computer-engineering students at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi last year, Maker Playground is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building internet-of-things, or IoT, projects. By leveraging custom-designed diagrams and intelligence-code generators, a user is able to create an IoT device that is connected to the cloud and can harness the power of AI and machine learning, without needing to be an experienced programmer or electrical engineer.
"We like to create IoT projects, but we realised it is difficult for other people because it requires programming languages, so we decided to create Maker Playground as a tool to help others," one of the software developers Nuntipat Narkthong said.
Maker Playground guides users to create IoT projects.
"People who have no idea about coding and electronic circuits should attend our workshop. They will acquire basic knowledge about electronic devices and how to develop their own IoT projects. We also advise them if they have problems while working on projects."
Maker Playground was selected as one of 12 finalist teams from 10 countries, -- China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand -- to compete in the Asia Finals of Imagine Cup, the world's premier student technology competition, organised by Microsoft and recently held in Sydney, Australia.
Before the software was ready for competition at Imagine Cup, the trio of Maker Playground -- Nuntipat, 25; Jednipit Tantaletong, 20; Natkanok Poksappaiboon, 19 -- had a hard time making it perfect.
"Maker Playground is a new technology. When we encountered a problem, there was no specific method to fix it. We had to use trial-and-error. We searched for information from international books and the internet. Then, we analysed information and developed a solution for it," Jednipit said.
Students and machines at the Maker Playground workshop.
To determine if the program would work well, the team tested it at a few different schools. The results at St Francis Xavier Convent's workshop were excellent. Students said that Maker Playground could help them create IoT projects smoothly.
"I had never built an electronic circuit before," one student says in a video on Maker Playground's YouTube Channel. "I was afraid I couldn't make it, but after working on it and receiving advice from the team, I could make it through."
At Imagine Cup in Sydney, 12 representatives from 10 countries had three minutes each to impress judging panels, who evaluated projects on innovation, comprehensive solutions and marketing.
The team found Maker Playground's strength was innovative function, but their weakness was marketing.
Members of Maker Playground. From left, Natkanok Poksappaiboon, Jednipit Tantaletong and Nuntipat Narkthong. (Photos courtesy of Maker Playground)
"We have a vague business model and marketing. We focus on Stem education. In Thailand, most software for Stem is free or sponsored by large corporations. It's difficult to market," team leader Nuntipat said.
One of the judges, Rachel Bondi, Marketing and Operations director at Microsoft Australia, said that Maker Playground is comparable to a school holiday workshop called Bricks4Kidz in Australia.
"Maker Playground is like Bricks4Kidz in the modern era. This is what kids want to do in camps. Its market doesn't need to be only education. It could go in many other ways. The tool is simple and basic. It is a great one."
Though Maker Playground didn't win a prize, the team will continually hold workshops and market the product.
"We plan to have a workshop once a month in schools. On March 23, 30 teachers will attend our free workshop in Bangkok. We will later hold workshops in the North and South," Nuntipat said.
"We will find a partner overseas interested in the education market. We will probably let the partner bind our software with their packages. When they sell packages, we will earn a cut of the sale."
At Imagine Cup, India had three teams enter the Asia Finals. One of these, Caeli, won first prize and received A$15,000 (340,000 baht) in cash. Team Caeli created a smart automated anti-pollution and drug-delivery mask specifically designed for patients suffering from asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions.
Members of Maker Playground believe other countries have an advantage over Thailand because they have lots of new and complicated technologies.
"Thailand has won Imagine Cup several times in the past, but generally, Thais aren't pioneers. We usually apply technology and use it, but don't create new ones. Now, there is high competition in the IT field. Though we started using technology earlier, we have moved forward slowly until other countries can catch up with us," Nuntipat said.
Maker Playground has a free download at http://makerplayground.io.
