On Bitcoin Predictions, Remote Home Management, and a Glove to Facilitate the Lives of the Blind Computer Engineering Graduation Projects at UoB Propose Advanced Technological Solutions

Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Khadijah Abdusalem)
4 August 2022
The Head of the Computer Engineering Department at the College of Information Technology at the University of Bahrain (UoB), Dr. Fatima Abdulqader Al-Baluchi, stressed the importance of the computer engineering major, being one of the most rapidly developing disciplines in the field of technology, as the demand increases day by day.
UOB held the arbitration for final year student graduation projects in the Department of Computer Engineering for the second semester of the academic year 2021/2022, which resulted in three student projects winning, that covered realistic issues in dealing with modern technologies.
The two students, Safaa Abbas Al-Durazi, and Ahmed Fayez Ali, won first place for their “Assistive Glove for the Blind” project, under the supervision of Dr. Alaa Al-Din Yousef Al-Omari. As student Ahmed Ali stressed the importance of the “Assistive Glove for the Blind”, as it proposes a technique that helps the blind communicate, enhancing their independence and social integration, using simple and inexpensive components. This glove helps the blind communicate, by recognizing nearby objects, using a camera that identifies them, a speaker that says what the detected object is, as well as a whistle to warn of impending danger. The Raspberry Pi board was used in this project to build an artificial vision on the OpenCV platform using Python.
While the second-place award went to the project “Bitweet: a platform for predicting Bitcoin prices using a new hybrid approach”, done by students Randa Mohammed Al-Abbar, Heba Sadiq Saeed and Amal Ibrahim Abdullah, under the supervision of Dr. Hessa Jassim Al-Junaid and Dr. Aisha Bushager. Student, Randa Al-Abbar, said the platform’s approach relies on integrating the two well-known approaches used in cryptocurrency price prediction research: the machine learning approach, and the approach to utilize Twitter sentiment analysis, to obtain more accurate results. Furthermore, she added that the project compares the traditionally used univariate prediction algorithms to solve the problem of predicting cryptocurrency prices with the multivariate prediction algorithms that have recently been used to solve this problem. In addition, Bitweet provides the final model’s results in an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand way, as well as next week predictions for Bitcoin prices, and short-term price fluctuations, and platform facilitates making investment decisions and reduces its potential risks.
The project “Developing Home Automation Devices and Smart Lighting Switches and Sockets” was awarded third place, done by students Mazen Essam Abdulrazzaq, Aman Johnson Thashel, and Hamad Muneer Malik, a student from the Department of Computer Science under the supervision of Dr. Jalal Mohammed Khulifat and Dr. Abdullah Ahmad Al-Asadi. The student Thashel noted that the Home Automation project proposes useing an efficient system, and user-friendly smart switches based on ESP-32 technology for remote home automation. Where traditional home appliances act like Internet of Things (IoT) devices through the system, controlled via a mobile app, and the app allows each switch to be controlled through voice commands.
The external arbitrators expressed their admiration for the projects students submitted, describing them as advanced and that they require care and support to be turned into real products that can be invested commercially. Moreover, they praised the students’ abilities shown in their graduation projects, which reflect the strength of the academic programs they receive in the Department.

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