By: Becky Harris
We’re excited to announce the winner of our Vision Developer Contest is the “Shotgun Polly” app, submitted by James Osborne, CEO and Co-Founder of Cogneo Labs.
Competition was fierce. Since announcing the contest on October 24th, we’ve seen over 171 developers building with our Vision SDK and submitting applications for both iOS and Android apps. We judged applicants based on four factors: (1) innovation and uniqueness, (2) how much the Vision SDK impacted functionality, (3) the extent to which the app provides value to users, and (4) the app’s readiness for launching on the App Store or Play Store.
The Vision SDK provides a wide range of features and functions — sign classification, object detection, semantic segmentation, augmented reality, and more — so our entrants had a large toolbox at their disposal. After a few days of testing the submissions and careful deliberation, we’re proud to select “Shotgun Polly” as our winner
Here’s a little about how “Shotgun Polly” works, in James’s own words:
Quick! What does this road sign mean?
If you’re British, you’ll likely recognize this as the “National speed limit” sign. But if you’re like most Americans, you’ve got no clue. Now think of all the people who come to the US and are baffled by the signs we have here in the US.
Easy, right?
How about this one?
If you speak German, you’re set. If not, you’re going to become a nervous driver. And nervous drivers aren’t good drivers.
Shotgun Polly is an app that uses the Vision SDK to recognize road signs but then takes it a step further. It uses Amazon Polly to provide a spoken announcement of the sign in any language supported by Polly. It also “translates” the sign’s meaning for the user’s preference- for example, announcing the speed limit in kilometers per hour even when the sign reads “Speed Limit 25” (in MPH).
Anyone who has driven a car in an unfamiliar place will love an app that automatically interprets road signs and uses voice to help the driver keep his or her eyes on the road. Shotgun Polly also helps new drivers, who tend to suffer from information overload while developing the essential “situational awareness” skills that experienced drivers take for granted. Having a buddy pointing out signs they might miss can be a life-saver.
As the winner of the Vision Developer Contest, James received an all-expenses-paid trip to join our team in Las Vegas for AWS Re:Invent. If you’re at Re:Invent stop by our booth, number 2520, Wednesday 11/28 at 3:30 PST to see his app in person!
Announcing the winner of our 2018 Vision Developer Contest was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.