BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

A SMART shower system that discourages excessive water use was one of the three winning entries of the first stage of Brunei Hackathon competition.

The concept of a smart shower system handed Institut Teknologi Brunei the top prize in the competition’s higher learning institution category.

Presenting the idea, team member Matius Anak Belayan explained that the system would enable users to limit their use of water while taking showers.

When the amount of water during a shower exceeded 80 litres, users would have to wait for five minutes until he or she can use another 80 litres of water, he said during the prize presentation ceremony for the first stage of the contest at iCentre yesterday.

Organised by the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB), the Brunei Hackathon is a 13-week competition divided into two stages – the first involving producing an idea to address water issues and conceptualising designs, before they can develop the designs into prototypes in the second stage.

Meanwhile, the water breaker system conceptualised by Chen Chung Seen, a chartered electrical engineer from Jurusy Perunding Company, bagged the first prize in the competition’s public category.

He said the system would enable users to detect unknown water flows and cuts them off to prevent unknown leakage in the house.

The winning team for the sixth form category was Jerudong International School (JIS) on their concept of a “three-step system to create safe drinking water.”

Representing the team, Muhd Alawi Muhd Sharin, explained how the system works in harvesting and converting rainwater into safe drinking water.

All of the three winners in each of their categories were presented with mock cheques of $1,000, which served as funds to start their prototyping developments for the second stage of the competition.

Presenting the mock cheques was BEDB Chairman Dato Paduka Hj Ali Hj Apong, who is also the Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office.

In his speech, he urged winners to consider the aspects of commercialising their prototypes and marketing them regionally and internationally, instead of selling them in the local market only.

“I encourage all the teams to think beyond Brunei Hackathon as a one-off event, but strive to ensure ideas and concepts are pursued to their full potential instead of (being) stopped and stored halfway,” he said.

“I (also) encourage all of you to push forward your ideas and concepts so that they can bring value and fully serve their objectives to solve Brunei’s high water consumption problem,” he added.

The Brunei Times