VR app for learning sign language wins first hackathon at Startit Center Indjija

Using virtual reality for education purposes was the theme of the first VR hackathon held at Startit Center Indjija from May 24 through 26. The winner is the Pixels2Pixels team, which designed a VR app for learning the sign language, and the award fund amounted to as much as EUR 1,000.

As said in a press release, this was the sixth IT event realized this year within the XBIT project, financed through the IPA Cross-border Cooperation Program Croatia-Serbia 2014-2020, aiming to present virtual technology for education purposes and enhancement of the education system. It is organized in the partnership of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, the SEE ICT grass-root organization and the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, with the cooperation of the Municipality of Magadenovac and OSVIT Incubator from Donji Miholjac in Croatia.

The winning team Pixels2Pixels designed the VR Equal App, which, in addition to teaching the sign language, also teaches the users that “We are equal”, as their slogan says. According to the statistics, the number of people with damaged hearing is growing, whereas the least developed parts of the world even lack qualified experts for this problem. For this reason, the VR app is meant for children with special needs and their classroom friends, as well as for the education of experts in the least developed parts of the world.

During the hackathon, students were given 48 hours to design, develop and present their IT solutions. There were 25 participants in six teams, which were provided with space for developing their ideas and separate rooms to rest in, as well as everything they needed during the hackathon.

The XBIT project deals with the development of conditions for an optimal, structured development of the IT industry and entrepreneurship in the program region and their optimal use as a generator of innovations and competitiveness. In the upcoming months, numerous activities will be realized, in order to improve the use of IT technologies in entrepreneurship.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Inicijativa za unapređenje novih tehnologija u Jugoistočnoj Evropi - SEE ICT

Fakultet tehničkih nauka Univerziteta u Novom Sadu

Startit Centar Inđija

Municipality of Magadenovac

OSVIT Incubator

use of virtual reality in education

virtual reality

first VR hackathon

VR app

Pixels2Pixels team

learning sign language

sign language

XBIT project

IPA Cross Border Cooperation Program Croatia Serbia 2014 2020

virtual technology

VR Equal App

people with damaged hearing

damaged hearing

development of IT industry

development of entrepreneurship