Nectecs drives tech to support kids, hospitals
THE NATIONAL Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) has created a cyber-physical system to support sustainable development and competitiveness under the Thailand 4.0 scheme.
The government has spent more than Bt640 million to develop 200,000 kidBright units to support students, and provide DentiiScan projects to support 50 hospitals nationwide.
Nectec director Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn said at the Nectec Annual Conference and Exhibition that the centre had held an exhibition to promote research and development under the concept “Thailand Moves Forward”. It aims to support sustainable development, create competitiveness and leverage innovation as well as the country’s scientific human resources. It has, therefore, created a cyber-physical system in the areas of creativity and innovation to support Smart Thailand or the Thailand 4.0 vision.
The cyber-physical system focuses on developing creativity and innovative products in the areas of wealth, manpower, strength and local people.
He added that the centre has developed various research and development projects in diverse areas, including advanced electronic sensing, intelligent systems and networks, artificial intelligence (AI) and computing technologies.
The centre also has developed many projects to support wealth, manpower, strength and local people in the country and improve the quality of life of Thais as a whole such as the KidBright and DentiiScan projects.
Learning to code
The KidBright or Coding at School project is a programmable, embedded circuit board designed to help children aged 9 to 13 years to learn how to code. Coding is a very important part of learning, as it teaches students to think systematically, creatively and analytically.
KidBright is a small, easily portable board. It has LED lights that can scroll messages or display pictures. There are two programmable buttons and one reset button. The board has built-in temperature and light level sensors as well as a real time clock and a buzzer.
The Science and Technology Ministry spent more than Bt140 million to help Nectec develop 200,000 KidBright boards in 1,000 schools across Thailand by the end of September.
Meanwhile, the DentiiScan project is the first cone-beam CT scanner for dental and maxillo-facial imaging in order to improve the affordability and availability of the dental CT system. The Science and Technology Ministry has injected Bt548 million to support Nectec to develop 50 cone-beam CT scanners and support 50 government hospitals nationwide.
“Nectec aims to promote research, development, and innovation, as well as a strong collaboration network with partners in electronics and computer technology. We want to collaborate in driving the country with research, innovation and technology,” said Sarun.
