Updated October 24

Mohammed Al-Qassabi placed third in the Stars of Science television competition with his invention of an automatic football offside detector. Al-Qassabi is a senior in the information systems program at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university. 

Al-Qassabi was the youngest finalist, and the only one from Qatar, in the series’ 13th season. An avid football player and fan, he invented the offside detector while a first-year student at CMU-Q. 

“One of my most useful classes was learning to code in Python,” he said. “When I started at CMU-Q, I just had the idea for the offside detector, but I could make a proper prototype once I learned to code.”

During his first year, he won a gold medal for the project at the 11th International Invention Fair Middle East (IIFME) in Kuwait. He refined the prototype and in his second year at CMU-Q, he received the individual gold medal at the Doha Oasis for Innovation. Al-Qassabi also won Best Startup at Al Fikra 2020. 

“During Stars of Science, the jury asked me to develop the project further,” said Al-Qassabi. “Now it not only detects if the ball is offside, but it tracks performance and can record the mechanism of any injuries.”

During the proof of concept, engineering, and design phases of the competition, Al-Qassabi received top marks from the judges. 

“I am thankful for how Stars of Science has helped me improve my invention. Insh’allah, I hope it could be used in Qatar football, and maybe even at the World Cup.”