News & Events
Lac Hong University Wins Second Prize at the 7th EPICS Competition
The 7th Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) competition, organized by the USAID BUILD-IT Project and Dow Vietnam's STEM Program, showcased the excellence of Lac Hong University. After more than four months of effort, six teams from the university's Faculty of Information Technology and Faculty of Mechanics, Electricity, and Electronics passed the qualifying rounds to participate in the Final Showcase, which took place on the morning of April 11, 2025, at Cao Thang Technical College.
The organizing committee and 21 teams with 113 students from technical universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, and Hanoi participated in the Final Showcase
The six projects from Lac Hong University included: LHU-ADLEY, with a communication support app for mute and deaf people; LHU_1, with an automatic helmet washing machine; LHU-D'RISE, with a smart cane for the elderly; LHU_Power Stone, with a home workout guide app; LHU-Hoa Hong Den, with the MASKY air-purifying mask; and LHU-AI-FLOODGUARD, with a smart flash flood warning system. Each project was innovative and addressed practical community issues, from health and safety to environmental protection.
The 6 participating teams with their supervising lecturers
At the Final Showcase, the LHU-ADLEY team, under the guidance of lecturer Bui Xuan Canh, brilliantly advanced to the final round and won second prize, receiving a prize of $300. The team’s application uses a camera to recognize sign language, converting it into text or speech, and also integrates a sign language course library, helping deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals communicate more easily and integrate into society.
The LHU-ADLEY team receiving second prize at the competition
In a post-competition interview, the LHU-ADLEY team shared their challenging journey. The idea originated from a chance encounter with a person who used sign language, which led the group to survey the deaf community. This process took two months due to the shyness and reluctance of the survey subjects to share. The functional sketching and data collection phase was also difficult, as the team had to aggregate data from multiple sources to train the AI. Team members Hoang Gia Huy, Pham Bao Minh The, Vu Thi Kim Huong, and Vi Hoai Thuong, with support from the AI Robotic team and T&A Lab, collaborated closely to complete the product.
The EPICS Journey and the Spirit of Practical Learning
EPICS is not just a competition but also an opportunity for Lac Hong University students to experience a real-world engineering design process. Under the guidance of lecturers and experts, the teams learned to identify community needs, propose innovative solutions, and improve their products based on real feedback. LHU-ADLEY's success is a testament to the university's interdisciplinary learning approach and its "no learning alone" spirit, where students are encouraged to work in teams and apply theory to practice.
Lecturer Bui Xuan Canh (center) and 2 members of the ADLEY team
Impact and Future Expectations
LHU-ADLEY's second-place win at the 7th EPICS competition not only affirms the capabilities of Lac Hong University students but also inspires other community-service projects. The team's project promises to be further developed and its application expanded to support more deaf individuals, contributing to a more inclusive and humane society. With the foundation from EPICS, Lac Hong University remains committed to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, aiming to turn students' ideas into reality and create sustainable value for the community.
