By: Tamar Trabelsi-Haddad
A plot that blocks a sidewalk? A sewer pipe that exploded? Residents of Yeruham will soon be able to report hazards to the municipal hotline through W-YZE, an application backed by Morag Amar, a 12th grade student at Midreshet AMIT in the city.
Amar is the first in Yeruham to approach matriculation at the level of ten units in the mechatronics field, a field that combines mechanical engineering, electronics engineering and software engineering. This year it will be tested at the level of ten study units in computer science as well. She has represented Israel in international technology competitions and teaches with her members of the robotics group students from the neighboring Bedouin village, Rahma.
The idea for the app came up in Yeruham’s robotics team, “The y-team”, where they decided to turn Yeruham into a smart city. The app will connect the residents with the Shefa (“Improving the City” section) of the municipality. Instead of residents wishing to report a nuisance or file a complaint calling the call center, which forwards the information to the various departments, it will be possible to contact through the app.The big innovation: all the residents of the city will be updated on every problem and the pace of its solution. Those who download the app will see the city map with the reports as pins. Inside each pin will be the details of the complaint, what happened, on what street and when. When the board starts dealing with the problem, the pin will change color. When the treatment is over, the color will change again, and after a few hours the lubrication will disappear.
“I plan to study software engineering in the future,” says the girl, who learned her first programming language via the Internet. “I love Yeruham and the app is part of my commitment to the city.”
