Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) made headlines when the PINE was announced as the champion in the 2018 Asia Pacific Imagine Cup. The PINE is a detector which assesses the quality of pineapples using IoT. The invention of the tool was a successful collaboration between UTHM technology and Microsoft Azure.

The PINE, which is also the name of the development team, members are students from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FKEE); Tan Yit Peng (24), Yap Xien Yin (24) and Zulnazim Dzulkurnain (25). They did Malaysia proud since this was the first time the country hosted the championship and it was the 2^nd Asia Pacific Imagine Cup championship to be held.

According to the team leader, Tan Yit Peng, they got the idea and advise to design this tool from the team mentor, Dr. Chia Kim Seng, a lecturer from FKEE. Tan further explained that normally pineapples are cut to determine the quality of the fruits. However, by using this tool, it helps to assess the fruit quality much quicker and consequently, reduces wastage.

The PINE is one of the teams that will represent APAC to the final round of the championship which will be held in the United States (US) this July.

“With the full support from the university, we will further improve the invention and work hard to make history there,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Dean of FKEE, Professor Dr. Hashim Saim said, the faculty will assist this team to improve their invention and hopes that the PINE will be able to bring UTHM to the world level, at par with other renowned universities.

Imagine Cup is a championship dedicated for technology and innovation and participants are among university students. The competition is conducted in all continents and the world championship will be held in Seattle, the US.