HACK-A-THON is very much prevalent among engineering students. Hack-a-thon is a competition where we need to give solutions to the problem statements given. Mostly the solution will be a hardware working prototype or sometimes it may also be just a concept presentation. In most of the Hack-a-thons, Before actually participating in a Hack-a-thon there will be an abstract submission, We can only participate if our solution-abstract to the problem statements given, gets selected. In some Hack-a-thons the problem statements will be given on spot.
In this blog, I will share my experience of participating in Sansadhan hack-a-thon organized by the Department of drinking water and sanitization, Department of empowerment of persons with a disability, Atal innovation, Nithi Ayog Govt.of India and in association with 91springboard, Gurgaon. This is the first-ever hack-a-thon conducted by govt. of India concentrating the very basic issue that is the accessibility of toilets by divyangjan.
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| P1.Sansadhan hack poster |
How did I get to know about this Hack-a-thon?
I must thank VIT, Vellore placement cell Because I got to know about the competition from the mail sent by them. And also by advertisement on Instagram. |
| P2.Instagram advertisement |
Team Formation:
The team is very very important in any Hack-A-Thon. As soon as I got to know about this Hack-A-Thon, I asked my previous Hack-A-Thon teammates because the problem statement was a little similar to our previous hack-a-thon's problem statement. They accepted to participate. So finally the team was made up of 3 members,2 from mechanical and I'm from the electrical branch.
Generally, any Hack-A-thon consists of 4 stages
1.Before Abstract submission.
2.Day of Abstract submission.
3.Before Hack-A-thon.
4.Day of Hack.
5.Results
1.Before Abstract submission.
We got almost a month to think of a solution and work on it and submit an abstract. Because I was very busy, I couldn't communicate with my teammates and think of a good and innovative solution. My teammates were really good, they did a lot of research work and they were informing me through phone call and I was giving some of my ideas. And also we had used google word doc and we were adding our ideas into it. Getting an idea or a solution isn't that easy. We can concentrate in class, understand, byheart somehow we can score full marks in exams but thinking of any innovative solution to a problem is very difficult. Whenever we come with a solution, there already someone in India came up with the same idea. We used to hit our laptop keyboard with frustration. Finally, somehow we were able to come with a solution, that's a combination of ideas that we got and a little bit of already existing one but not used to solve this particular problem.
2.The abstract submission day.
The above picture describes how we did submit the abstract. We submitted our abstract on the last day of abstract submission. We changed our idea a little bit, We had 2 mechanical engineers, who were really good at 3d designing, So we uploaded our 3d design file as a part of the abstract. I guess that was one of the main reasons why we did get selected because rather than just telling ideas in words it's is always good to express it in picture form.
3.Before Hack-A-thon.
We got to know that our abstract got selected just a week before the competition, We were really happy for getting selected for the Hack and we had to go to Delhi for the Hack. Our 3D designing was already done but actual implementation and testing weren't done, So I started working with sensors, Arduino. The whole week I worked on it and I really didn't care about academics and whatever extra-activities I was involved in the college. I was the only one from electrical and electronics, It was a little difficult to handle the whole electronics part of our idea. But still, I managed somehow.
My teammates got permission for all of us to participate from the college and the college agreed to give attendance for one week for participating in the competition.
We booked our train tickets and hotel room to stay. We thought of going by flight anyway the organizers were reimbursing the traveling expense. Because we had our thermocol model and paints. So we chose the train and it was cheaper too.
Train journey.
It is one of the best parts of the hack-a-thon, It was a really new and good experience for me to traveling by train from Chennai to Delhi(south to north). We met with couples traveling from Chennai. Their daughter was studying in CMC Vellore, they came to see their daughter. We became so close that they were giving us snacks to eat. We had a discussion on Engineering and MBBS.
It was a 2 days journey on the train, I can't imagine how I did spend 2 days on the train. I started working on my code for hack-a-thon and made a plan that How we should proceed in the Hack.
One of my teammates is from Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal. Their parents came along with food and sweets to the Bhopal station.
Reached Delhi.
We reached Delhi, got down from the train and took an Uber to our hotel room. Too much traffic in Delhi, it was very annoying. The Uber driver was a good guy and he was giving us information about Delhi. It was the 3rd time in Delhi, I have been there for my visa interviews and IGA airport. I was looking through the window and watching Delhi people, shops, malls, Very big apartments and MNC's. We finally reached the hotel room. We got freshened up, ordered food, ate, and slept.
4.The day of the Hack-A-thon.
We were really excited and a little tensed too. The competition was at Springboard91, Gurugram, We reached around at 8AM with our project components. We registered ourselves and moved in. We were greeted with a handbag containing a notebook, pen, water bottle, guide and sheet containing information about mentors. The mentors were from NitiAyog and Atal innovation mission. We had a beautiful breakfast and a great introductory ceremony. There were some physically challenged people talking about their problems in accessing the toilets.
After the introductory ceremony, We started building our 'smart and divyangjan friendly toilet commode'. I was working on the microcontroller, sensors, and code. Two of them were building a prototype of the western commode. Sensors weren't working properly, soldered wires were coming out. Some groups of judges came near us to get to know what we are doing, it wasn't for evaluation. We did really explained our idea well, they were happy and they appreciated us.
A person from a company called 'Samagra', his name is Swapnil Chaturvedi, He came to us and got to know about our idea. He liked our idea so much that he was like 'This is what I was exactly looking for, Please carry it forward and make it as a product'. He gave his contact number and promised us that he will help.
By the end of day 1, we were 60% to 70% done with our prototype. We went back to our room and slept.
Day 2, we were very tensed and had a doubt whether everything will work according to our plan
or not. Other teams seemed to be very confident and they were chill. Some of the teams were already done with their prototypes and started explaining to the mentors, people from Niti ayog and startups.
My teammates were preparing for the presentation. We had a video shoot of us explaining our idea and showing our prototype. Finally, Everything was working, and it was our turn for the presentation. There were 8-10judges in a room, We started explaining our idea, We were asked a lot of questions, We answered our level best. All judges saw our working prototype and they seemed happy.
Roaming in Delhi.
We got a day off and the day after that we had our prototype exhibition and closing ceremony. We went to lotus temple, Connaught place, and the zoo. Zoo was amazing, by seeing different animals and birds, We literally forgot about the competition results. We took uber, ola cabs to travel, cab drivers were really good they were telling a lot about Delhi, traffic, traffic rules, people and they suggested us some Delhi special dishes to eat.
The final Day.
We were invited to Ambedkar Bhavan, It's a really very good building, we were supposed to set up a stall kind of thing and explain our idea to school students and visitors. I always believe that Hack-A-thon is not just for participating and winning, It's all about learning and having a new experience. So I visited every other team's stalls and got to know about their idea. Students were there from IIT, Bits Pilani, Dayanand Sagar university etc.. and there were some startups also participated. I made new friends over there, I was asking them about their college, activities in college, curriculum, students, faculties etc..
At 2 o clock in the afternoon, we were all called to an auditorium. Minister of Jal Shakti Govt. of India was the chief guest for the closing ceremony. He gave speech it was really good and inspiring. And also other dignitaries from Niti Ayog and Atal innovation mission gave speeches. We were convincing ourselves that 'we came here to express our idea not to just win the hack and prize money'. Finally, they announced the results, they started with the rural toilets category and finally, there was only one prize for the urban community toilet category and we were the winners. We were so happy, they screened our project video and gave us a chance to speak. We received 2lakh cash prize and support from the Atal innovation mission to take the idea to the next level. There were news channels, I tried speaking in Hindi.
It's all because of teamwork. The team was really good and supportive. We never blamed anyone when things weren't working. We supported each other and that is why we were able to make a working prototype in just 25 to 30 hours.
