ECE students at HackOHI/O 2018

A guy holding a laptop nonchalantly walks by in a bunny outfit. Another person is fast asleep on a couch. Three girls are attempting high fives, while a group of 10 others sit in absolute silence staring into blue screens. It’s just a snapshot of any given moment at HackOHI/O 2018.

From Oct. 26 to 28, The Ohio State University’s largest hackathon saw more than 750 students fill the Union meeting spaces, creating new tech inventions over 24 hours alongside industry mentors. It requires focus, open minds, and collaboration on all levels. 

While predominantly a draw for Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) students, HackOHI/O historically provides a platform for any major to participate. As with previous events, several Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) students at Ohio State took home honors as part of the winning teams. 

ECE student Andrew Fuwas was on Team Paul and the Buckbois, which placed among the Top 10 Finalists for its project Indigo. It provides individualized escape routes for families seeking aid immediately following natural disasters by applying artificial intelligence through classification models that quickly triage aerial imagery across affected regions. Other team members include Ryan Williamson, CSE and Data Analytics, as well as Bobby Yost and Alex Doan, both CSE.

Emily Kong is another ECE student among the Top 10 finalist teams that created Snugg, a cross-platform mobile app for the public to communicate safety status, safe/danger areas and even nearby resources. Other team members include Nathan Balli, CSE, Sam Coyle, CSE and Benjamin Higgins, Materials Science Engineering.

Alex King, ECE student, was a part of the team which won second place in the AEP Sponsor Challenges, for its Water Wizard creation. It is able to monitor soil moisture and predicted weather patterns via wi-fi to determine if a plant requires more water in an agricultural tech application. Other team members include Autumn Kerr, Mechanical Engineering, Maddy McGee, CSE, and Kellan Heth, Industrial Systems Engineering.

Isaac Zachmann was on Team M-Squad, which won “Most Original Hack” for creating the Motor Spineroo. It allows any iOS device to spin a motor wirelessly, which could help people open doors to their home without the use of a key. The group is rounded out by Operations Management student Collin Aldrich and CSE student Peter Campanelli. 

ECE student Yuyi Chang was on Team HYCLZ, which won “Most Ambitious Hack” for its creation TwiHub, an open source community code sharing program. Other members include Chenzhang Hu and Wally Yang, both Computer and Information Science, and Xinyu Liu CSE.