More than 300 students participate in 24-hour hackathon

More than 300 students from different engineering colleges across the State participated in a 24-hour hackathon organised by JSS Science and Technology University at the JSS Technical Institutions campus on November 1 and 2.

The hackathon was held in both hardware and software streams with participants showing almost equal interest in both the fields. While 30 teams participated in hardware stream, 35 took part in the software stream.

“The hackathon, began at 9 a.m. on November 1 and concluded at 9 a.m. on November 2. We had made all arrangements for the participants,” said Pradeep from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE).

It was aimed at harnessing the potential of all innovative minds across the State. Both hardware and software streams were made available and the students were free to choose either of them, a statement from SJCE said.

Brainstorming phase

During the brainstorming phase, problem statements were given to participants, who had to build on their ideas with help from representatives from an IT consulting firm. Subsequently, they used various programming languages and software platforms to build solutions during the solution building phase.

They had the freedom to use different software platforms including machine-learning, deep learning and block chain to build solutions. In the case of hardware hackathon, the statement said the participants used various development boards and other electronic devices to solve problems provided by industrialists.

They were judged on the effectiveness, innovation and sustainability of the solution, the statement added.

Winners

The winners in the software category were Ananya Pramod, Dhanush Reddy, Aamir Syed and Sidharth Nambiar from MSRIT, Bengaluru. The winners in the hardware category were Nithin M. Banakar, Rajeshrahul N. and Venkateshwara Prasad from R.V. College of Engineering, Bengaluru.

Later, speaking at the prize distribution ceremony, Vice-Chancellor of JSS Science and Technology University Jawahar Nesan emphasised upon the need for a proper blend of different domains in research. Contending that research was borderless, he said enduring solutions to society’s problems could be found if research was taken up by people from diverse backgrounds.