The Bridge - Issue 3, 2019 - 33

Chapter News

This event enabled many students, who normally
would not have access to hardware, to be able to
realize one of their dreams, make friends, and learn
something new, all in less than a weekend.
Next time you see a Hackathon, think about how
you might add a hardware component to it.

Judging a facial detection project.

The Event:
The event starts with an opening ceremony, during
which the chapter orients students with the flow of
the event and announces the theme and sponsored
prizes. This year, the theme was Public Utilities.
Students were encouraged to build projects to help
improve the quality of public life.
While hacking, mentors and sponsor engineers
walked around to chat with students about their

projects. We set up HelpQ to enable mentors to
reach hackers who need help as soon as possible.
This worked pretty well! We wish we had also set up
a Slack channel for everyone to join, as this would
have enabled faster communication outside of email.
Thus, in the future, we plan to look into software that
can integrate all of this (parts checkout, HelpQ and
Slack) into one.
Near the end of the 24 hours, hackers are required
to submit a DevPost and documentation for judges
to review their projects. The judging committee
consisted of professors, company sponsors and HKN
alumni. The committee went around the demos
to see and ask questions of each group. Prizes are
awarded to the teams at the closing ceremony.
Some of the outstanding projects consisted of a
trash sorter using computer vision, and a Bluetooth
parking permit authentication system.

Final Thoughts:

Keshav Rungta is an aspiring roboticist,
studying his 3rd year of electrical engineering
at UC San Diego. He was born and raised in
Kolkata, India where he went to La Martiniere
for Boys high school. As a child, Keshav was
inspired to enter the field of engineering by
his father, who instilled in him the passion
to learn about new technology and showed
him the satisfaction of being able to fix things around the house.
Now, Keshav dreams to create new autonomous technology that
would improve the human lifestyle. He is currently working on
a radar system for autonomous driving that works in all weather
conditions. He is chair of the Kappa Psi chapter of IEEE-HKN,
where he hosts around 8-10 workshops every quarter. He was one
of the lead committee members for H.A.R.D. Hack and responsible
for managing the volunteers, hardware, and room arrangements. In
addition to HKN and school, Keshav loves to play the guitar, sing,
paint, and hang out with his friends whenever he gets a chance.

It is also important to get a healthy dose of milk tea and
friends at a hackathon!

The winners of H.A.R.D. Hack with Professor Dr. Paul Siegel (left), Professor Dr. Rakesh Kumar (second from left),
and Hamna Khan, President of the ECE Alumni Board (right).

H.A.R.D. Hack was not something developed
overnight. The H.A.R.D. Hack committee begins
planning for the next event a good 6 months in
advance: booking rooms, finalizing schedules, and
arranging for media, sponsors, and manpower.

From cars to parking sensors - projects used a wide range of possible
microcontrollers, hardware, and sensors!

THE BRIDGE

The planning committee consisted of seven people
who collaborated closely through weekly meetings
and Slack messages. The event could not have
happened without the 72 volunteers, mentors,
judges, and the committee's dedicated leadership.

The whole planning committee with the two faculty advisors, Professor Dr. Paul Siegel (second from left) and Professor Dr. Rakesh Kumar (third from left).

HKN.ORG

https://hkn.ieee.org/ https://hkn.ieee.org/

The Bridge - Issue 3, 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Bridge - Issue 3, 2019