$16,000 prize for S’pore-developed AI assistant that carries out tasks for visually impaired users

Members of the winning team behind Sunday include Senthilkumar Kunalkumar (left) and Kumar Devadharshini, at the fifth Huawei Tech4City Competition finals, held at LaunchPad@One-North on Oct 27.

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Published Oct 28, 2026, 04:09 PM

Updated Oct 28, 2026, 04:09 PM

Sunday won Huawei’s Tech4City top prize of $16,000. The AI assistant helps visually impaired users, and others, carry out phone tasks by voice on Android.

The app stops at Singpass and banking steps, so users keep control of payments.

Other finalists included EduNets for O-level revision and Drill Mode for scam training. Minister Masagos Zulkifli said innovation should improve lives, not just show advanced technology.

SINGAPORE – Like JARVIS, the digital assistant from the Iron Man films, a locally developed AI -powered mobile phone assistant can carry out tasks for its users with a simple voice command.

Called Sunday , it was designed to help people with visual impairments navigate smartphone apps more easily, whether they want to book a ride, send a message or shop online.

But its creators believe it can benefit others too, including seniors who are less familiar with technology and busy parents .

“We are not just targeting people who are visually impaired. We are also targeting people who are less tech-savvy, people who have motor impairment like hand tremors,” said Devadharshini Kumar, 23, former computing science student at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and software engineer at a technology company.

Unlike Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa voice assistants, Sunday can execute multi-step processes on a smartphone, such as looking up a restaurant and sending its address to a friend, or finding a flight confirmation in an email and adding it to a calendar.

Kumar is part of the team behind Sunday that clinched the top prize of $16,000 at tech firm Huawei’s Tech4City competition , which invites youth and start-ups to use AI for the public good.

Held at The Meeting Point at LaunchPad @ One-North on Oct 27 where the results were announced, the fifth edition of the competition required teams to submit working prototypes for the first time.

More than 15 schools, including universities, polytechnics, the Institute of Technical Education and junior colleges, submitted 240 entries – the largest in the competition’s history.

Led by Rajaselvam Kalyanaraman, 23, a second-year computer science and design student at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), the Sunday team also comprises Kumar; Kunalkumar Senthilkumar, 22, a first-year computer science and design student at SUTD; and Pravin R, 23, an engineering and product design student at SUTD.

To use Sunday, people have to download an app and give it permission to use an Android phone’s built-in accessibility functions, which allow it to interact with what is on the screen. They can then tell it what they want done.

For example, a user could ask Sunday to send a photo from their album to someone on WhatsApp, find a red shirt on Shopee or book a Grab ride. The assistant narrates its actions as it goes.

Behind the scenes, the user’s spoken request is converted into text and sent to Google’s Gemini AI system, which works out the steps needed. Sunday then uses the phone’s accessibility functions to carry out actions such as tapping, scrolling and typing, Kumar said.

The prototype currently works only on Android phones, as Apple’s iOS does not allow third-party apps the same access needed for Sunday to control other apps on an iPhone.

Sunday has built-in safeguards: It will stop when it encounters a Singpass login or banking function, and will not press the final button to authorise a payment.

Users have to complete these steps themselves. A person with visual impairment can use a screen reader, which reads out what is on the screen and lets them select the relevant button.

Kumar said the payment safeguard was requested by users who wanted to retain control over sensitive transactions.

The Sunday team said 73 people have trialled the app through the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) and other social service agencies.

For SAVH volunteer Gordon Ong, 69, downloading a document from an e-mail and sending it over WhatsApp is not an easy task. He is completely blind in his left eye and has very hazy vision in his right, making it difficult to press buttons accurately on his phone.

He said Google’s Gemini can describe the steps needed to complete a task, but he still has to carry them out himself. Sunday, in contrast, can perform the steps for him.

“This app is essential if there are complex, multi-step processes I have to do on my phone ,” said Ong.

A beta version has been submitted to the Google Play Store for review and could be available in the next few weeks, subject to approval. The team plans to charge US$10 (S$13) a month and hopes to use the prize money to speed up the assistant’s responses.

AI-powered revision for O levels

Tech4City’s second prize went to EduNets, a team of six Singapore Institute of Management students and graduates who received $11,000 for an AI-powered revision website for O-level students.

The platform currently covers chemistry, mathematics and biology. Students can take quizzes and upload handwritten or typed notes, which the AI analyses to identify gaps or misconceptions in their understanding. It also provides flashcards for revision.

“Sometimes students will just dump their ideas and whatever they’re studying into notes. But actually, from your understanding, you’re missing some key important points that might actually help you score the extra mark,” said team leader Beatrice Faustine Irawan, 22, an accounting graduate.

About 125 students have tried the platform after hearing about it through the team’s personal networks. The team hopes to work with tuition centres on trials in 2027 and eventually expand the platform to cover the Primary School Leaving Examination and A-level curricula.

A finalist in the competition, Drill Mode, uses simulated scam scenarios to help users recognise how scammers use fear and pressure to persuade people to part with their money.

The project was inspired by the experience of Ng Wen Jing, a 21-year-old second-year computer engineering student at Nanyang Technological University. Her older sister lost nearly all her savings of $17,000 after a scammer posing as an Alibaba agent told her she needed to pay to cancel an insurance product.

“We have fire and emergency drills, but we don’t have scam drills. So we would like to raise awareness on scams,” said Ng, who added that the idea for Drill Mode came to her before the Government rolled out Scam Vaccine recently.

Users sign up with their phone number and e-mail address and can take part in simulated scam calls, messages and e-mails. After responding, they receive a debrief on what they did well and what they could improve.

Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, who attended the finals of the competition, said that the true measure of innovation is not how sophisticated one’s technology is, but how much difference it can make to people’s lives.

“When we continue to nurture the spirit of innovation and create even more opportunities for our young people to turn promising technologies and ideas into solutions that benefit our society, AI becomes more advanced,” said Masagos.

AI/artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

在 10 月 27 日于 LaunchPad@One-North 举行的第五届华为 Tech4City 竞赛决赛上，周日获胜团队的成员包括 Senthilkumar Kunalkumar（左）和 Kumar Devadharshini。

《海峡时报》摄影：郭志雄

发布于 2026 年 10 月 28 日下午 4:09

更新于2026年10月28日下午4:09

Sunday 赢得了华为 Tech4City 大赛的最高奖项 16,000 美元。这款人工智能助手可以帮助视障用户和其他用户通过语音在安卓系统上完成手机操作。

该应用程序在 Singpass 和银行转账步骤处停止，因此用户可以继续控制付款。

其他入围决赛的项目包括O水准考试复习项目EduNets和防诈骗培训项目Drill Mode。马善高部长表示，创新应该改善人们的生活，而不仅仅是展示先进技术。

新加坡——就像《钢铁侠》电影中的数字助手贾维斯一样，本地开发的人工智能手机助手可以通过简单的语音命令为用户执行任务。

这款名为 Sunday 的应用旨在帮助视力障碍人士更轻松地使用智能手机应用，无论他们是想预订车辆、发送消息还是在线购物。

但它的创造者认为它也能造福其他人，包括不太熟悉技术的老年人和忙碌的父母。

“我们的目标群体不仅仅是视力障碍者，还包括那些不太懂科技的人，以及那些有运动障碍（例如手部震颤）的人，”23岁的Devadharshini Kumar说道，她曾是新加坡理工大学（SIT）的计算机科学系学生，现在是一家科技公司的软件工程师。

与苹果的 Siri 和亚马逊的 Alexa 语音助手不同，Sunday 可以在智能手机上执行多步骤操作，例如查找餐厅并将其地址发送给朋友，或者在电子邮件中查找航班确认信息并将其添加到日历中。

Kumar 是 Sunday 团队的成员之一，该团队在华为举办的 Tech4City 大赛中赢得了 16,000 美元的最高奖金。Tech4City 大赛旨在鼓励青年和初创企业利用人工智能造福公众。

第五届比赛于 10 月 27 日在 One-North 的 LaunchPad 的 The Meeting Point 举行，并在会上公布了比赛结果。这是该赛事首次要求参赛队伍提交可运行的原型。

包括大学、理工学院、技术教育学院和初级学院在内的 15 所学校提交了 240 份参赛作品，这是该比赛历史上参赛作品数量最多的一次。

该团队由 23 岁的 Rajaselvam Kalyanaraman 领衔，他是新加坡科技设计大学 (SUTD) 计算机科学与设计专业的二年级学生。团队成员还包括 Kumar；22 岁的 Kunalkumar Senthilkumar，他是 SUTD 计算机科学与设计专业的一年级学生；以及 23 岁的 Pravin R，他是 SUTD 工程与产品设计专业的学生。

要使用 Sunday，用户需要下载一个应用程序，并授予其使用安卓手机内置辅助功能的权限，以便与屏幕上的内容进行交互。之后，用户就可以告诉它想要执行的操作。

例如，用户可以要求 Sunday 将相册中的照片发送给 WhatsApp 上的某人，在 Shopee 上查找一件红色衬衫，或者预订一辆 Grab 打车。助手会在执行操作的同时进行语音播报。

在后台，用户的语音请求会被转换成文本，并发送给谷歌的Gemini人工智能系统，该系统会计算出所需的步骤。库马尔表示，Sunday随后会利用手机的辅助功能来执行诸如点击、滚动和输入等操作。

该原型目前仅适用于安卓手机，因为苹果的 iOS 系统不允许第三方应用程序拥有 Sunday 控制 iPhone 上其他应用程序所需的相同权限。

Sunday 内置了安全措施：当遇到 Singpass 登录或银行功能时，它会停止运行，并且不会按下最后一个按钮来授权付款。

用户必须自行完成这些步骤。视力障碍人士可以使用屏幕阅读器，它可以朗读屏幕上的内容，并帮助他们选择相应的按钮。

库马尔表示，这项支付保障措施是应希望保留对敏感交易控制权的用户的要求而设立的。

周日团队表示，已有 73 人通过新加坡视障人士协会 (SAVH) 和其他社会服务机构试用了该应用程序。

对于69岁的SAVH志愿者Gordon Ong来说，从电子邮件中下载文件并通过WhatsApp发送并非易事。他的左眼完全失明，右眼视力也十分模糊，这使得他很难准确地按下手机上的按钮。

他说，谷歌的Gemini可以描述完成任务所需的步骤，但他仍然需要亲自执行这些步骤。相比之下，Sunday可以替他完成这些步骤。

Ong说：“如果我需要在手机上完成复杂的多步骤操作，这款应用就必不可少。”

该应用的测试版已提交至 Google Play 商店审核，如果获得批准，有望在未来几周内上线。团队计划每月收费 10 美元（约合 13 新元），并希望利用奖金来提升语音助手的响应速度。

AI 助力 O 水准考试复习

Tech4City 的二等奖颁给了 EduNets，这是一个由六名新加坡管理学院学生和毕业生组成的团队，他们凭借一个面向 O 水准学生的 AI 驱动的复习网站获得了 11,000 美元的奖金。

该平台目前涵盖化学、数学和生物。学生可以参加测验并上传手写或打印的笔记，人工智能会分析这些笔记，以识别他们理解中的不足或误解。平台还提供复习卡片。

“有时候学生会把他们的想法和学习内容一股脑地记在笔记里。但实际上，根据你的理解，你遗漏了一些关键要点，而这些要点或许能帮助你获得额外的分数，”22岁的会计专业毕业生、团队负责人比阿特丽斯·福斯汀·伊拉万说道。

大约有125名学生通过团队的人脉网络了解到该平台后进行了试用。团队希望在2027年与辅导中心合作开展试点项目，并最终将平台扩展到小学毕业考试和A-level课程。

入围决赛的 Drill Mode 应用通过模拟诈骗场景，帮助用户识别诈骗者如何利用恐惧和压力来诱使人们交出钱财。

该项目的灵感来源于南洋理工大学计算机工程专业二年级学生吴文静（音译）的经历。她姐姐的积蓄1.7万美元几乎全部被骗走，因为一个冒充阿里巴巴代理的骗子告诉她，取消一份保险产品需要付费。

“我们有消防和应急演练，但我们没有防诈骗演练。所以我们想提高人们对诈骗的认识，”吴女士说。她还补充说，在政府最近推出防诈骗疫苗之前，她就想到了“演练模式”这个想法。

用户注册时需提供手机号码和电子邮件地址，之后即可参与模拟诈骗电话、短信和电子邮件的演练。演练结束后，他们会收到一份反馈报告，指出哪些方面做得好，哪些方面需要改进。

社会及家庭发展部长马善高出席了比赛决赛，他表示，衡量创新的真正标准不是技术有多么先进，而是它能给人们的生活带来多大的变化。

“当我们继续培养创新精神，并为我们的年轻人创造更多机会，让他们将有前景的技术和想法转化为造福社会的解决方案时，人工智能就会变得更加先进，”马萨戈斯说。

人工智能

人工智能