As many as 65 government high school students from 12 states such as Karnataka, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Assam, Nagaland, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana took part in the national level hackathon ‘Hack to the Future- the Green Edition’ held by Quest Alliance in Bengaluru from February 16th to 20th. They developed over a dozen technology solutions for environmental challenges their communities face on a daily basis.
Students developed over a dozen interesting technology solutions for environmental issues such as stubble/crop burning detectors, landslide detector and alarm system for villages, motion-sensor based taps for villages, automated soil moisture management for farms, automated wild animal detection and alarm system, water treatment plants, sun-tracking solar panels, etc.
The Hackathon was supported by partnerships with multinational companies such as IBM, Capgemini, Amazon, Kantar and Nissum.
The Hackathon was designed to encourage problem solving and an innovation mindset among students. Under the guidance of tech experts as mentors, students went through the entire lifecycle of design thinking – problem identification, problem statement, visualizing a solution, execution, feedback and pitch presentation. The objective of this initiative was to encourage students, especially girls, to pursue STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The students were also introduced to new age technologies such as drones, 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality and Robotics during the Hackathon.
Neha Parti, Director (Schools), Quest Alliance, said that the purpose of this hackathon was to build a ‘tinkering mindset’ among students. “We have given kits to students who attended the event and hope they will make more such projects and inspire other students to become creators rather than consumers of technology.”
Bhavana Girish Nayak, a class nine student of Government High School, Garudacharpalya, Bengaluru, was involved in making the automatic street light that was aimed at saving electricity. “Most of us come from rural areas where we were unable to attend online classes due to erratic electricity supply. So, we decided to optimize energy consumption,” she said.
Quest Alliance organizes several hackathons at school level in several states across the country. ‘Hack to The Future – The Green Edition’ is the first national-level hackathon.
