The winning schools of Ashland Middle School in Ashland, Ky., Cavallini Middle School in Upper Saddle River, N.J. and Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Winston-Salem, N.C. provided unique solutions to critical issues affecting our nation – opioid addiction, sports concussion detection and natural disasters. These schools were chosen as the three national grand prize winners after pitching their projects to a panel of judges in New York City. These students and teachers succeeded through intense rounds of the contest, winning hundreds of thousands in technology along the way. First selected as one of 255 state finalists (5 per state) in November, then one of 51 state winners (including Washington, D.C.) in December, and then one of 10 national finalists in March, these three schools ultimately progressed to achieve the title of 2018 national grand prize winners.

“Each year that passes with the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, we are more impressed and awe-struck with the creative, strategic talent that our students and teachers possess,” said Ann Woo, Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship, Samsung Electronics America. “Our hope has always been to inspire confidence in today’s youth and provide the tools they need to pursue a career in STEAM. The national winners this year are testament to the possibility and promise of the next generation to answer some of today’s real issues. We are proud to bring awareness to their inspiring work.”

The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest was created in 2010 to encourage innovation while addressing the technology gap in classrooms across the country. Each year, the competition inspires more active, hands-on teaching and learning among schools nationwide. Since 2001, Samsung has provided more than $60 million in technology to public schools in the United States. Over the past eight years, Samsung has received more than 17,000 entries for the competition, empowering youth to problem-solve and create with the support of their teachers, peers, schools and communities at-large.

The three national winners will receive $150,000* in Samsung technology products such as LED TVs, laptops and tablets for use in the classroom. This year’s winners include:

Ashland Middle School in Ashland, Ky.

Because local first responders called to the scene of a drug overdose are only armed with rubber gloves and tongs, the students of Ashland Middle School developed a solution to safely pick up and dispose of hypodermic needles. The students created a device that could be used by first responders and local authorities to pick up dangerous used needles and other drug paraphernalia.

“Technology is a great tool, but if you’re not using it to help people, it’s just a toy,” said Isaac Campbell, a student from the Ashland Middle School team.

View their project video here:

Cavallini Middle School in Upper Saddle River, N.J.

Reported concussions reached upwards of 3 million in 2017, and it’s estimated that half of all concussions are unreported or undetected. After a classmate suffered a concussion during football season last year, students at Cavallini Middle school developed sensors to be worn on football helmets to accurately and quickly identify potential concussions and help prevent any further brain damage through early detection.

“Our sensor, powered by a lithium-ion battery, uses two accelerometers along with a processor to calculate concussions through hits to the body. This data is collected in the app and sent to the coach on the sidelines,” explained Jake Carlin, a student from the Cavallini Middle School team.

View their project video here:

Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Winston-Salem, N.C.

After learning that strong summer storms are the primary cause of flooding in the U.S., Thomas Jefferson Middle School students developed a water sensor system that deploys water barriers when rising water levels reach 6 inches.

“Our Assistant Fire Chief let us know that, sadly, many communities do not have enough barriers to cover their flood prone zones, so they have to send out first responders to close streets when they should be out saving lives,” said Jake Gruver, a student from the Thomas Jefferson Middle School team.

Once the barriers are deployed, the system uses Wi-Fi to send a signal to emergency personnel. The information is then sent to the mobile map app, Waze, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation to alert drivers of the conditions.

View their project video here:

To learn more about the contest and the 2018 Top 10 national finalists, please visit: www.samsung.com/solve and smsng.news/SFT2018Top10.

*Estimated Retail Value

Fusing rich visuals with crisp acoustics, the Samsung HMD Odyssey offers an experience that draws you in deeper to the world of mixed reality, a blend of virtual reality and augmented reality.

HMD Odyssey is a head-mounted display, developed to explore the world of Windows Mixed Reality. The headset was designed in partnership with Microsoft, creating a device that seeks to reimagine the realms of virtual reality through its high-resolution dual displays, AKG headphones, built-in microphone and intuitive installation.

Read on for our hands-on, first impressions look at the new mixed reality headset.

Out of the Box, Into the Game

Set-up is truly intuitive. As well as being ready to play right out of the box, the Samsung HMD Odyssey’s ergonomic design also allowed me to adjust the device to my satisfaction in moments.

The HMD Odyssey does not require any external motion sensors, thanks to its Inside-Out Position Tracking, which frees you from the confines of a single environment and allows you to plug and play, anywhere. Just connect the device to a compatible PC^* wherever you are and get ready to explore a virtual world.

To set up the HMD Odyssey, I first connected my device to a compatible PC. Next, I was instructed to point the headset towards my PC monitor, and draw the shape of the room, while keeping the headset facing the monitor. This allowed the device to map the physical space around me, and any obstacles, such as furniture and walls, in the physical world became “walls” in the virtual world, to prevent me from bumping into anything.

Everyone’s body is different, and the HMD Odyssey is designed for an optimal fit for everybody. For example, the hard type headband, with its cushioned Forehead Pad, is easily adjustable and ensures an even weight balance for hours of comfortable play. The headband can be tightened to sit snugly on the head, even while wearing glasses, and blocks out any surrounding light. A nice addition is the physical volume buttons, which mean that you can control sound levels with just one press, rather than scrolling through in-game controls. What is more, the Inter Pupillary Distance (IPD) Control Wheel, positioned under the goggles, adjusts the distance between the left and right dual displays, allowing you to find the perfect fit for your eyes.

See More, Experience More

At the heart of the full visual immersion is superior picture quality. The world may have been virtual, but the sharp, crystal clear images that surrounded me made it feel completely real.

The Samsung HMD Odyssey’s dual 3.5-inch AMOLED displays are finely tuned for the mixed reality experience, offering remarkable image definition.

At the same time as delivering more vibrant colors, deeper blacks and sharper contrast, the HMD Odyssey also renders motions more smoothly. The larger screen size and 1440×1600 high-resolution picture quality per each display on the left and right, provide a fluid and lifelike virtual experience, with fast focusing and a clear and stable experience overall.

The HMD Odyssey’s 110-degree Field of View alters the boundaries of the mixed reality world. The scope is greater than that of other devices and closer to the average person’s 120-degree real world field of view, allowing you to explore and move through worlds without viewing distortion, for heightened realism.

Achieving True Immersion

Incorporating the sense of sound through its built-in headphones and mic, the HMD Odyssey adds another crucial dimension to the mixed reality experience.

I was pulled further into the world by the device’s 360° Spatial Sound. By simulating 3D sound using direction, distance and environment, 360° Spatial Sound allowed me to pinpoint the source of noise in the virtual realm. The whole effect encourages you to use your hearing as you would in the real world, listening through built-in AKG headsets which produce clear, world-class acoustic and bass.

Whether working together as a team to clear missions and battle enemies, or simply chatting to other players, it is well known that building bonds a key part of the gamer’s experience. I found these bonds are even tighter with the HMD Odyssey’s fitted array mic, which allows players to communicate with each other mid-game, without ever having to remove the headset.

To help me navigate Windows Mixed Reality, the HMD Odyssey came equipped with two 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DOF) motion controllers that tracked movements inside the mixed reality world. A tutorial guided me through using these tools when I first connected my device to a PC, in which I learnt how to maneuver through the world, performing actions like “teleport” to rapidly shift from one place to another.

I soon discovered that 6DOF goes beyond the three axes of regular VR controllers: I had the freedom to move not only straight – forward and back, up and down, left and right – but also in the rounded and rolling motions: yaw, pitch and roll. The HMD Odyssey headset also supports 6DOF, so that your head as well as your arms can control motion in the game.

Diving Into Windows Mixed Reality

The first place you will visit in your Windows Mixed Reality journey, and whenever you use the headset, is the Mixed Reality Portal. The portal appears in the virtual world as Cliff House, a spacious villa with an ocean view, that I could explore and customize to access all my Windows apps.

A wide range of apps and games can be downloaded from the Microsoft store, ready to make you feel totally immersed. There is also support for Steam VR, which has over 2,000 VR games in its catalogue^**.

My first game was the music-themed Rock&Rails, an exhilarating thrill-ride. I struggled not to flinch or recoil as I flew through the sky, fighting off enemies by shooting from my guitar. Rock&Rails is available from the Microsoft store with purchase of the Samsung HMD Odyssey headset, so you can get into the game as soon as you unbox your device^***.

With a set-up that is effortless, striking 1440×1600 resolution dual AMOLED displays, built-in AKG headphones and support for a wide range of games and media. Samsung’s HMD Odyssey provides all that you need to experience the exciting new realm of mixed reality.

^*Windows Mixed Reality requires a compatible Windows 10 PC and the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. Compatibility may be checked using the Windows Mixed Reality PC Check tool available on the Microsoft Store.

^**Title availability is subject to change.

^***Bundle availability may change with location and date.

Efe’s idea, which he calls ‘Motokask-Motoheadguard,’ promotes road safety by placing a sensor in motorcyclists’ helmets that communicates with a control mechanism attached to their vehicle. When a rider puts on their helmet, a wireless signal is sent to this mechanism, which then allows the engine to start. If the rider attempts to ride without their helmet, the engine does not run.

The competition that provided a platform for Efe to showcase his innovation, Samsung Future Inventors, was a collaboration between Samsung Electronics Turkey and the Creative Children’s Association, under the umbrella of Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow initiative.

Nurturing Solutions for Tomorrow’s Problems

Just as its name implies, Solve for Tomorrow was established to encourage bright young minds around the world to come up with fresh solutions to pressing problems. With contests in countries around the globe, the initiative challenges students like Efe to dream up innovative ways to improve the world around them. The competitions’ ultimate goals are to enrich communities in need with meaningful innovations, and to nurture these students’ growth, confidence and ingenuity.

In 2016, a total of 18 open competitions were hosted in as many countries, including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, China and Turkey.

The competitions award the most exceptional innovations. For coming up with a clever way to prevent road accidents, Efe earned his contest’s top prize. After receiving his award, Efe described how participating in the competition had inspired him to keep pursuing scientific projects and inventing new ways to help others.

See how Solve for Tomorrow competitions around the globe are helping students like Efe realize their creative ideas and make a difference in their community.

Building a Bridge to Make Dreams Come True

This past March, Samsung China organized a Solve for Tomorrow competition with the goal of making it easier for students in a mountainous region of Zunyi to get to school safely.

The contest challenged participants to design a model of a functional load-bearing bridge that could be used to construct a real one. After a winning design was selected, volunteers worked together to build the structure, which they dubbed the ‘Dream-Weaving Bridge’.

Along with lending a hand in the bridge’s construction, Samsung China staff donated science books and other educational resources to the rural school. Upon finishing the project, volunteers and contest participants walked away with a well-earned sense of accomplishment, as their efforts had made it easier for students to study science and pursue their educational dreams.

As Solve for Tomorrow participant Lü Xiaobo expressed afterward, “After helping to build the Dream-Weaving Bridge, and having seen the children’s smiles, I now see my life’s purpose more clearly, and will work hard to promote the study of science in the future.”

Promoting STEAM in the USA

In April, high school students from across America gathered in Washington, D.C. for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest – a competition that challenged students in grades 6 through 12 to come up with STEAM-based (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) solutions to real-world problems.

The students in attendance at the National Union Building represented the contest’s 10 finalist schools. Groups took to the stage before a panel of judges to pitch their unique projects, which spanned from a vending machine that supplies free hygiene products to the homeless, to a robotic car seat that detects when a child is left in a hot vehicle and alerts their parents.

The contest’s three winning schools hailed from Arizona, Nebraska and New York. Their respective award-winning projects included a low-cost wildlife detection system to alert drivers of animals crossing the road, a drone-powered spraying system to target weeds and reduce the use of chemicals on crops, and an app that allows restaurants to donate food that might otherwise have gone to waste to provide after-school meals for students in need.

By promoting the study of sciences and helping the next generation make a difference in their community, Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow program wholly embodies its guiding philosophy of inspiring the world and creating the future.