Safer Community With A One-Stop Mobile Security Solution

According to statistics, property offences accounted for 80% of 83,456 criminal cases recorded in 2019, with 16,497 incidents of house break-ins and theft in that year. Although the number of cases slightly dropped to 14, 040 in 2020 , home security issues still worry most Malaysians, including those living in gated high-rise residential buildings. 

Break-ins remain one of the five common security issues in Malaysian condominiums and apartments, parallel with stalkers, home fires and lack of security features. 

To build a safer environment, Data Analytics and Digital Transformation students at Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) developed a one-stop community management and safety mobile application, which was specially designed for Malaysian residents to bridge the security gap in the country.

Hoh Shen Yien and Chong Rui Jun, both Computer Science with a specialism in Data Analytics students, teamed up with Nicole Ee Sze Mien, an Information Technology with a specialism in Digital Transformation student, truly proved their ideas valid and convincing, as they clinched Champion with a cash prize of RM6,000 at the Odyssey Hackfest 2022: Online Category recently.

Odyssey Hackfest, a hackathon festival to provide students with the opportunity to sharpen their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, was organised by Odysseus, Universiti Malaya, and concluded on 30th October. 

Competing with participants from all around the world, APU’s team with Hoh Shen Yien as its leader had taken up this challenge of mobile application development, to promote a tech-savvy society in the country and around the region.

“The mobile app we developed named ‘Kommunity’, is a one-stop housing community management and safety platform consisting of an IoT-driven visitor management system, one-tap emergency button, tailored emergency motion detection trigger, emergency incident audio and video recording; and all-in-one admin portal for resident management, event management and billing management,” explained Shen Yien.

Hoh Shen Yien (from left), Chong Rui Jun and Nicole Ee Sze Mien give thumb-ups to the ‘Kommunity’ mobile application they developed with the main concept of allowing residents to access information from their mobile phones at any time of the day so that they are kept updated on what is going on around their township, street and home.

The main concept of the Kommunity app is to allow residents to access information from their mobile phones at any time of the day so that they are kept updated on what is going on around their township, street and home.

“This app was built using React Native, an open-source UI software framework created by Meta Platforms, as Shen Yien had some experience in it, and it is connected to our backend that was built with Django, a high-level Python web framework. The app is functional for both Android and IOS platforms, covering most mobile users,” added Rui Jun, who worked closely with Shen Yien on the technical development, mainly on coding the application.

About the innovative side of this app, the trio indicated, the one-of-its-kind emergency motion-triggered system could record surrounding video and audio and then be uploaded to the cloud. Concurrently, the app could continue to provide live updates of its surroundings and transmit them to the security guards to take necessary actions.

Despite juggling their internship placements at one time, the trio admitted that the most challenging part was generating innovative ideas and incorporating additional business values that are truly impactful yet deliverable within the timeline of the hackathon.

“We spent one and a half months in ideation, building the application and also preparing the pitching deck. All three of us worked together and contributed equally to the process, from idea generation to the phase of building the wireframe. We have very much benefited from the module on Creativity and Innovation (CRI), as we used various techniques taught in the module in the process of ideation,” added Shen Yien.

Finally, APU’s team managed to demonstrate innovation and creativity in their business solution and technical skills by implementing all of them in this mobile application. Besides, Nicole who did most preparation work on the pitching deck had also proven her exquisite presentation skills in pitching to the judges.

As many residential areas lack a central management system that caters to both security and management, the team believes that the Kommunity app could potentially tie both market segments and connects its customers into one-stop community management and safety platform. Furthermore, the Kommunity app functionalities can also be catered to industrial and commercial office areas, for future expansion and sustainability of the business.

Chong Rui Jun (from left), Nicole Ee Sze Mien and Hoh Shen Yien are APU’s graduating students with impactful professionalism from respective training. Chong and Hoh study Computer Science with a specialism in Data Analytics, while Nicole studies Information Technology with a specialism in Digital Transformation.

“Our vision is to foster safe communities where Malaysians can live effortlessly without worry. We hope that the Kommunity app could fully function as a one-stop community management platform that is security focus, hassle-free and easily accessible right within our fingertips as we believe safety is a priority for all Malaysians,” concluded the team leader.