I've been living and breathing digital for the last 20 years: helping clients, partners and brands move from traditional media to electronic mediums and working to aid digital transformation.
We were thrilled to be part of R U Hacking. A great event with a fantastic group of talented and enthusiastic hackers. #RUHacking
It was encouraging to see the wide array of technologies being employed and fascinating to learn about how each team decided on their challenge and solution. Teams didn't play it safe and many of them utilised languages and frameworks they had never used before to incorporate into their project. Not daunted by the task they got stuck in, worked as a team and got the job done!
It was particularly pleasing to see that so many of the challenges and solutions were focused on using technology for social good. As a joint challenge between Code Wizards and TheGivingMachine it was hugely important that social good and social responsibility be well represented and the were delighted that so many projects focused on connecting communities and facilitating social change.
Congratulations to Andrejus and the team for hosting a such a great event; we enjoyed talking to nearly all the teams taking part and are looking forward to getting involved again next year.
In our category:
| Project | What was it about | What we thought |
|
Monkey Minders |
Finding an accredited babysitter on line. Created by students from UTC Reading | The finished product from these guys was slick. We were impressed by what they did technically but the concept didn’t really tie into the brief as we would have hoped. Talented young students |
|
Applause review https://clap.horn.uk/controller |
Game to control a jumping dinosaur using clap sounds. | This gets a really notable mention from us. The game was great fun and B Horn the creator got the whole auditorium involved in playing the game built using React. Unfortunately he didn't quite have time incorporate a charitable element to the project |
| When life gives you Lemons https://devpost.com/software/when-life-gives-you-lemons |
An interactive experience/game educating users about mental health issues | The concept for this was great however the team really struggled to get all elements working together so were unable to demo a finished product. I’m sure given a little more time this would have been an excellent candidate for winning |
| Project Ecotrace https://devpost.com/software/project-ecotrace |
Web app to track the carbon foot print of consumer products | Our Winners! The team (again from UTC Reading) really thought the idea through and produced a well finished application. They were open to new ways to thinking about their product and produced an excellent presentation and document pack. The married well with TheGivingMachine by including the idea to suggest alternate products which would be monetised using affiliate tracking. This is exactly the commercial model employed by TGM |
“I’ve always loved seeing how teams evolve and work together to solve problems. RU Hacking was an amazing event that helps students understand the non-technical skills that are fundamental to working within the UK’s high tech industries. This experience will be essential to them as they move from education to employment and we’ll do all we can to make that successful”
Nicola Chowings Thomas - Head of Delivery Code Wizards
Other notable mentions:
| Project | Accolades | Comments |
|
Arc MC |
2nd place | Minecraft motion controller using AR/VR. Great presentation that got our CTO up and navigating through Minecraft using a dance mat. |
|
Enercom https://devpost.com/software/enercom
|
BMI Challenge Winner | Build communities using Smart Roof technology and allow gifting of surplus energy |
| Touchless Touchscreen https://devpost.com/software/touchless-touchscreen |
Winner MLH - Best IoT Hack using Qualcomm Device | Virtual keyboard for use in clinical environments to reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases |
About the author
Mark McKeever
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“I’ve always loved seeing how teams evolve and work together to solve problems. RU Hacking was an amazing event that helps students understand the non-technical skills that are fundamental to working within the UK’s high tech industries. This experience will be essential to them as they move from education to employment and we’ll do all we can to make that successful”
Nicola Chowings Thomas - Head of Delivery Code Wizards
RU Hacking was my first hackathon and I was thoroughly impressed at not only the quality and ingenuity of the students taking part, but also with how many of them are concerned with using their talents to enable positive social change.
Martin Thomas CTO Code Wizards
The most surprising aspect of the hack wasn't the wide range of languages, frameworks and approaches to the tasks set, but that many of the participants learnt new languages to achieve their goals in the same period.
At Code Wizards our pedigree is based on just these kind of people and we hope to welcome some of them to come work with us in the near future.
I thoroughly enjoyed RU Hacking and I'm already looking forward to Code Wizards' participation in 2020.
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