Engineering for the Americas (EftA) LACCEI Virtual Hackathon 2024

Hosted by the OAS and LACCEI
Sponsored by MathWorks
Deadline for the proposal: February 9th, 2024
NEW Deadline for the development: April 10th, 2024
Oral presentation: April 22nd 2024. 6pm-8pm (Time EST)

Overview

In this challenge, the undergraduate students (LACCEI member institutions and not members) can present an Internet of Things (IoT) solution to an environmental or medical issue. The problem should be contextualized in the location where the students coexist (university, house, community, etc). No experience with IoT is needed since we will provide resources to help you get started. The students must use the following MathWorks tools:

• MATLAB and/or Simulink
  • MathWorks Resources Website (Hackathon Exclusive): Click here
  • Create a free account here with your university email
  • If your university doesn’t have a license, you can access one here
• ThingSpeak for IoT Projects (MathWorks)
• You can use existing datasets located in Massachusetts, shown below. You can also use other public channels or create your own:
  • Weather Station
  • Traffic Monitor in Route 9
  • Solar Water Heater
  • Soil Monitor
  • Outdoor Air Quality
  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Temperature Data
  • Solar Powered Battery Monitoring with Prediction

Task

In this challenge, we invite you to help advance a critical research issue in the fields of medicine or environment, using IoT systems.

Prizes

• First place: 500 USD (For LACCEI members only)
• Second place: 300 USD (For LACCEI members only)
• Third place: 200 USD (For LACCEI members only)
• For LACCEI non members, MathWorks will deliver merchandise and LACCEI a certification

Official Rules

Requirements:

• Proposal, video, documentation, and application should be presented in English.
• Groups of 3 or 4 students with 1 mentor (professor or researcher)
• Students and mentor can only be in one group
• Estimated graduation date for the students should be after July 2024
• The solution must be able to be replicated step by step.
• The code must be in a repository with access to the jury.
• Participation cost: FREE.

How to compete

The group must send the proposal before the deadline using the following web form:

https://forms.gle/v1KAWzXL9SG9NG1G9

Then, a jury will evaluate the viability of the proposal in the next 15 days. Over the course of those 15 days, all participating students must complete the MathWorks interactive course training (will be announced in January 2024) and the online workshop with MathWorks experts.

If the proposal is approved, the group will start the second phase of the hackathon called “development of the solution” together with the submission of the video (the requirements will be sent in March 2024) and the oral presentation.

Rubric

The points to be evaluated are distributed as follows:

1. For the proposal phase:

• Definition of Problem to Solve (30 points)
• Definition of the Design (50 points)
• Definition of Tools to Use (20 points)

2. For the development phase (Web form: click here):

• Application code (50 points)
  • GitHub
• Video (40 points)
  • Format: MP4
  • Max. 3 minutes
  • English
  • Development presentation: Introduction, Problem, Design and Development of the Solution, Tools, and Conclusions
  • Clarity
• Documentation (10 points)
  • PDF: maximum 4 pages (US letter size), Arial font, size 12, line spacing 1.5, margins 2 cm on all sides
  • Template: click here
  • Introduction
  • Contextualized in the location where the students coexist
  • Problem
  • Design
  • Development
  • The solution can be replicated step by step
  • Tools used
  • Conclusions

3. For the project presentation and defense phase:

• Oral presentation and defense (100 points)
  • Rubric will be published before April 7

Important dates

• New deadline for the proposal: February 9th, 2024
• Deadline for the proposal: February 23rd, 2024
• Training with MathWorks (Synchronous): February 28, 2024 (Wednesday – 4 pm EST)
  • https://matlabacademy.mathworks.com/#getting-started 
• Publication of results of the proposal March 1st.
• Start of the second phase (development of the solution): March 2nd.
• Deadline for the development of the solution: April 10th, 2024
  • Video presentation, code and documentation: April 7th, 2024
  • Video presentation, code and documentation: NEW April 10th, 2024
• Oral presentation: April 22nd 2024. 6pm-8pm (Time EST).
• Publication of results: April 29th, 2024.

Contact

• General coordinator: Dr. Catalina Aranzazu-Suescun (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)
• Email: competitions@laccei.org