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Smart Schoul 2025

  • Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT)
    03 septembre 2019
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Every morning the students of the Lycee Edward Steichen at Clervaux (LESC) walk through the front doors and past something rather unusual — a round platform partially enclosed by two white screens.

This is their Artec3D Shapify Booth. It is cutting edge 3D computer vision and imaging technology, put in the school as part of a special partnership between SnT’s own computer vision team, the Luxembourg Ministry of Education, Children and Youth, and the LESC community. The partnership, called “Smart Schoul 2025” and made possible through the FNR’s Promoting Science to the Public (PSP) “Flagship” Grant, encourages students to become what Dr. Djamila Aouada, leader of the project and researcher at the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), calls “citizen scientists”.

Dr. Djamila Aouada in the Artec3D Shapify Booth

Using the Shapify Booth, students take their body measurements for any project they could imagine — from 3D printing miniature “selfies” as board-game pieces, to calculating statistics about the ways they grow, and more. The goal is to pique their curiosity and encourage them to see complicated technologies not as daunting or static, but as useful tools that they can apply throughout their lives.

And the Shapify Booth is just the beginning. Over the next three years, Dr. Aouada and her team will bring a host of computer vision and imaging technologies to the school. The team will soon be installing technology from their motion and posture sensing project, STAR, which was originally designed to help stroke patients in physical rehabilitation. But at the moment, they are doing a lot of listening to learn about the students’ interests. “We want to give them tools that they are excited about,” says Dr. Aouada.

Both engineering and computer science can be intimidating subjects for students without mentors and role models in the field. Dr. Aouada aims to provide a fun, approachable entry point, sparking their curiosity to learn the basics of working with code, data, and algorithms. “Computer vision is an ideal example of computer science and engineering because it is intuitively understandable, almost immediately perceivable, and it can play a part in many aspects of daily life,” she explains.

Dr. Al Ismaeil, research associate at the University of Luxembourg’s SnT, is project manager of the project and hopes that it will give students important life skills, regardless of whether they go on to work directly in ICT. “Having access to this 3D scanner and the data it produces will give them the opportunity to really understand what private data is, where it comes from, and how to use it responsibly,” he says.

“Our goal is to help shape tomorrow’s digital citizens,” Dr. Aouada continues. And that doesn’t mean encouraging students to use consumer technologies — today’s young students already know their way around an iPad. Rather, these “digital citizens” need to learn how to use technology creatively, as independent and responsible agents. It is a cooperation that puts Luxembourg and SnT at the forefront of adapting public education to the needs of an increasingly tech-driven society.

The Smart Schoul 2025 project is preparing students for a future where success is built not on mere computer literacy, but rather on technological competence and creativity – and it will measure its success in the imaginations it inspires.

SnT is turning 10! We’ve come a long way since launching our activities in 2009. Stay tuned for a year full of celebrations, cutting-edge research, and new milestones.

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