Samsung Software Academy for Youth (SSAFY) fosters the next generation of software engineers, equipping them with problem solving skills through software education. It offers a solid curriculum and real-world experience, plus support service for employment.

Meet the members of the Imagination Playground Project, who made an educational program for children struggling with rare incurable diseases through the SSAFY course.

I wanted to be a help to someone

Seongryeong Kim says an idea sprang out of blue during a team meeting and this was the beginning of the Imagination Playground Project. “One of our teammates said, ‘How about doing a project that could be a help to someone, just as we’ve received help through SSAFY?’ We all agreed and chipped in.”

The teammates decided to develop an educational program which would allow children who spend a lot of time in hospital wards to have fun moving around. They studied IoT technologies such as touch coordinate recognition technology, using ultrasonic sensors and AI-based voice and motion recognition. They then applied these technologies to the project. Overcoming challenges with the help of SSAFY consultants and coaches, as well as encouraging each other in times of difficulty, they managed to complete the Imagination Playground in seven weeks.

Starting point for new challenges

The teammates had a test-run of the program at Kyungbuk University Children’s hospital. They say it was rewarding to see the children playing games with 3D characters they designed themselves and having fun moving along with the screen. “There were lots of challenges developing software for the first time at SSAFY, but seeing the actual users pleased with the service encourages me to seek my next challenge.”

Seongho Kwon says that through this project, he has learned that there are corners of society missing out on digitalization as the world evolves quickly: “I’d like to become a developer who can shed light on these areas utilizing the skills that I've learned at SSAFY.”