The Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, is proud to announce an outstanding achievement at the National AI Awards 2026, with three projects representing the Faculty receiving national recognition across three prestigious categories.
These achievements highlight the Faculty’s growing strength in artificial intelligence, healthcare technology, biomedical engineering, and local-language AI, while demonstrating the innovation and technical capabilities of its students and researchers.
Gold Award – Best AI Solution in Healthcare and Life Sciences
COGNI – AI-Enabled Wearable and Mobile System for Stroke Hand Rehabilitation, developed by students of the 22nd Batch of Computer Engineering, secured the Gold Award under the Industry and Sector Excellence Awards – Best AI Solution in Healthcare and Life Sciences category.
COGNI is an integrated rehabilitation platform designed to support stroke survivors in recovering hand functionality. The system combines an AI-powered mobile application, interactive rehabilitation games, real-time hand tracking, a wearable smart glove for measuring hand force, and a web-based platform for remote monitoring by healthcare professionals. It further incorporates AI-driven personalised exercise recommendations, gamification, wearable sensing, and data-driven progress monitoring.
The project represents an interdisciplinary collaboration between computer engineering, artificial intelligence, wearable technology, and medical expertise.
Student Team:
A.U.T. Iyenshi | R.P.M.R. Rajapaksha | W.H.S. Abesundara | R.M.M.P. Aberuwan
Supervisors:
Dr. Kushan Sudheera – Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Ruhuna
Dr. N.W. Prins – Staff Scientist, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota
Prof. K.D. Pathirana – Senior Professor in Medicine and Consultant Neurologist, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna
Gold Award – Best Sinhala/Tamil AI & Localisation Innovation
SinhalaLM by HelaAI – Sinhala Language Model & AI Web Platform received the Gold Award in the Best Sinhala/Tamil AI & Localisation Innovation category.
SinhalaLM is a language model developed to understand and generate natural Sinhala text, with a focus on capturing the language’s grammar, vocabulary, meaning, and real-world usage. The project contributes to the development of AI technologies that address the linguistic and technological needs of Sri Lanka.
The initiative was re-established during Rextro and subsequently developed further through the formation of HelaAI, a dedicated team working towards advancing Sinhala-language AI technologies.
Project Team:
Chamara Vishwajith – Undergraduate, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna
Dr. Kushan Sudheera – Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna
Dineth Jayakody – PhD Student, Old Dominion University, USA
2nd Place – University AI Innovation Award
The project iHeart – Multi-modal Cardiac Monitor for Emerging AI Health Applications secured 2nd Place under the Innovation & Future Focus Category – University AI Innovation Award.
iHeart is an innovative multi-modal cardiac monitoring system designed to integrate multiple physiological signals for advanced cardiac assessment and emerging AI-based healthcare applications.
Student Team:
Sivanujan S.
Attanayake A.M.S.P.
Senevirathne S.M.K.H.T.
Wimalachandra R.D.M.K.T.
Supervisors:
Prof. Arjuna Madanayake
Dr. Chatura Seneviratne
Celebrating Innovation and Excellence
The three awards represent a significant achievement for the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, particularly as the projects were recognised alongside AI innovations from leading companies and organisations across Sri Lanka.
The achievements demonstrate the Faculty’s commitment to student-led innovation, interdisciplinary research, artificial intelligence, healthcare technology, and the development of solutions addressing national and global challenges.
The Faculty of Engineering extends its sincere congratulations to all the students, researchers, supervisors, and collaborators who contributed to these achievements and wishes them continued success in their future research and innovation endeavours.
The Faculty also expresses its appreciation to SLT-MOBITEL and the Ministry of Digital Economy for providing a national platform to recognise and encourage excellence in artificial intelligence and innovation in Sri Lanka.
