Row4Ukraine is a charity awareness-driving mission designed to highlight the human cost of the war in Ukraine and raise funds for the rehabilitation of Ukrainian service personnel. The team comprised injured servicemen from the UK and Ukraine, working together to row 3,000 miles from Gran Canaria to Barbados in less than six weeks. As the British and Ukrainian crew members did not share a common language, effective communication was a critical challenge.
Row4Ukraine team leader, former Royal Marine and World Record holder for rowing from Europe to South America, Lee Spencer, said:
‘There [will] be times when we need to communicate complex information quickly and safely to avoid danger and times when your emotions will build up. Not being able to communicate how you feel, any perceived grievances, will lead to a deterioration in team spirit. Team spirit is what’s going to get us across, so being able to communicate is incredibly important.‘
Dr Chakaveh, Lecturer at the University of Oxford and CEO of Pixsellar, developed an innovative software, PixselChat, to bridge this gap. The real-time communication tool supports hundreds of languages but typically requires an internet connection. However, in recognition of the unique demands of the Row4Ukraine mission, Dr Chakaveh and her team created a bespoke version that functions entirely offline, making it the first-ever real-time embedded translated communication tool capable of operating without internet access. This advancement ensured that the crew could communicate efficiently, regardless of their remote location.
The necessity of real-time translated communication became even more evident when the team encountered severe steering problems, leaving the team of injured servicemen stranded in open waters and drifting out of reach of coastal search and rescue. PixselChat played a crucial role in allowing the team to diagnose the issue, distil complex information to coordinate their response as a team, and call for rescue across multiple languages out of range of satellite and WiFi communication. The mission is currently on hold while the technical challenges faced during the voyage are analysed.
Dr Sepideh Chakaveh, Department of Continuing Education and Research Member of Wolfson College said:
‘We knew that PixselChat was important for this mission so the team could communicate with each other, especially in the eventuality of an emergency, but it ended up being the key to saving their lives. I’m pleased that the team are safe and well and that PixselChat was able to help them through a terrifying experience.
‘I believe this collaboration highlights not only the impact of technological innovation but also the value of aligning such tools with meaningful causes.’
“The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world’s second-oldest university in continuous operation.”
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