Kota Kinabalu: Triangle from SM Sung Siew won the Shell NXplorers Malaysia 2026 Sabah Challenge, Monday, with Trecento Percento from SM All Saints named first runner-up.
Both teams will represent Sabah at the national challenge later this month. The State event was held at Plaza Shell here.
Triangle, made up of Ivan Lam Jun Yin, Alan Romeo Roy Joseph Boguli and Izz Iqbal Rizqin Mohd Shamsul, won with DriveShield, an affordable AI-powered road safety system.
It detects risky driving behaviours, including drowsiness, mobile phone use, smoking and alcohol consumption.
The system uses sensors, an ESP32-CAM, solar power and Telegram integration to send real-time alerts and record incidents.
“Being named champions of the Shell NXplorers Malaysia 2026 Sabah Challenge is a proud moment for our team,” said the Triangle team members.
“The programme pushed us to think critically, work together and develop practical solutions to real-world challenges. It also showed us that with creativity, teamwork and determination, young people can turn ideas into meaningful impact,” they said.
Trecento Percento, comprising Mark Dylan Disimon, Alvee Aylwin Tan and Aaron Anthony Rining Thien, presented Tag Tracker 300.
The Arduino-based attendance system uses RFID technology linked to Google Sheets. Students scan their RFID tags at the school gate and their details appear on an LCD screen and are recorded automatically.
The team said this cuts manual work and waiting time at the entrance.
The Most Innovative Award went to ELSEVIER from SMK Lok Yuk for AUTOMARK, a smart attendance system that uses fingerprint scanning. Attendance is recorded in real time and shared with teachers and parents.
“As the world faces increasingly complex challenges, the need for innovative thinkers and future-ready talent has never been greater,” said Sabah Shell Petroleum Company Limited (SSPC) General Manager Alexon Jong.
“At Shell, we see immense potential in young minds to drive positive change. By introducing students to critical thinking, engineering, digital technologies and automation, we hope to inspire them to re-imagine possibilities, solve real-world problems and become the leaders and innovators of tomorrow,” Jong said.
Shell NXplorers is a global education programme that helps students tackle real-world food, water and energy challenges through critical thinking and systems thinking.
The judges were Shell Sabah Deepwater Production Manager Jinikol David Gusting, Sabah State Education Department Learning Sector Assistant Director Vivienne Imee Samuil and SMJ Energy Sdn Bhd Chief Legal and Commercial Officer Samantha Soong.
The participating schools were SMK Tamparuli, SMK Sanzac, SMK Taman Ria, SMK Lok Yuk, SM St Peter Telipok, SMK Kolombong, SM Sung Siew and SM All Saints.
Supported by the Ministry of Education, the programme engaged over 600 students from 29 schools nationwide this year, including 210 from Sabah.
Its reach extended to about 1,000 students through peer-to-peer learning.
