App developed to support young cancer patients

Four students from the Software Engineering department at the College of Engineering at Abu Dhabi University developed a smartphone application they named Amal, which is an integrated digital system consisting of an app for children and their parents, and a smart control panel for doctors, all operating in a single environment which combines psychological support, medical follow-up, and continuous communication.

The developer students explained that it is available in both Arabic and English, making it accessible to children and their families within the UAE and abroad, and the system relies on artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis, machine learning, and virtual reality technologies.

They said that the idea of the app was born in the halls of Abu Dhabi University, where they were haunted by a simple question: Can artificial intelligence alleviate the suffering of a child undergoing a cancer treatment journey? So they thought of a new application which acts as a digital companion, giving the child a feeling that they are not alone, giving their family a greater degree of understanding and reassurance, and helping the doctor see the full picture of their patient’s condition.

Student Fares Zaki said, “We wanted Amal app to be a means through which the child feels, heard and understood through a 3D smart companion, who speaks to the child in simple and warm language, tells him stories, shares games and interactive activities, and encourages him to express his feelings naturally, but the real innovation does not only appear on the screen, but rather lies in the details that the user does not see, as the free drawing space within the app is not just an entertainment activity, but rather a smart window that analyses emotional indicators indirectly, to give doctors and the families a deeper understanding of the child’s psychological state, without feeling that he is under surveillance.”