Students in STEM skills challenge build system to curb illegal parking in Hong Kong
Form Two pupils win best presentation in smart city contest and say they hope city officials can develop their project
It’s been nearly four hours since classes have ended at United Christian College in Kowloon East, but a group of Form Two pupils are still in their classroom, hovering over a desk and having an intense conversation.
The four girls are putting the finishing touches to their latest invention: a smart street sensor that can detect and adapt to the movements of roadside cars to tackle illegal parking.
“We have embedded six ultrasonic sensors in closed-circuit television systems to collect and send information,” Bethany Ip Hoi-kin, 14, says. “These will be handy in monitoring the roadside traffic in Kowloon East.”
The devices are for installation on buildings along streets, and can sense the height from their perch to the road surface. If a vehicle parks illegally in the area, sensors pick up the change in height because that portion of the road is now covered by the car’s body.
A timer kicks in, and if the height difference is still registered after five minutes, police would be notified, with information obtained from the accompanying surveillance camera, Odelia Wong Sze-wing, 14, another of the group’s members says.