CCNY Hackathon and Workshop

Over the last two Fridays, a collective of CCNY science groups, the Clubs of Grove, held a microcontroller programming training workshop and hackathon in the Steinman Building. During the training session, students went through an hour-long training presentation and then were assigned different tasks to program and build.

Students were broken up into teams to work on their tasks. Building tasks started simple, and then increased in difficulty. For instance, students had to use a photoresistor to control the brightness of an LED. However, even starting with these simple tasks gave students a chance to learn about electronics prototyping hardware like breadboards, through-hole resistors, LEDs, and other sensing components.

 

Eventually teams had to figure out how to use more sophisticated components like ultrasonic sensors, temperature sensors, and different types of motors. It was a crash course in prototyping and programming. No experience was necessary to participate, and there were things to do for makers of all skill levels.

 

The following Friday, February 27th, there was a hackathon, in which teams were assigned build a project in response to a theme. The theme was “home improvement,” and the competition was fierce, merciless, and fun, of course.

The team of Yours Truly contemplated several types of home improvement projects. First we ruled out trying to do “obvious” projects, like using sensors to turn on lights, using a temperature sensor to control apartment heat, and other projects we thought others would think of.

Eventually, we decided that a refrigerator was the device in the home that consumed the most energy, and it would be useful to create a more energy efficient refrigerator. Our fridge would have many energy-saving features. First, it would be connected to a wall of the apartment adjacent to the outdoors, so it would be able to use cold air directly in the refrigeration chambers, when the air outside was cold enough. For instance, in the suburbs where people have garages, many people store food in their cold garages in the winter. Free refrigeration!

Also, our fridge would have separate compartments for refrigerating food. For instance, is your fridge “full” all of the time? Perhaps you only need half the space in your fridge to chill all your food. In our fridge, the main compartment would be broken up into three different areas. The shelf of each compartment would also be pressure sensitive, so that if there was no food in that compartment, the compartment would not be cooled, thereby saving energy. Also, each compartment base would rotate to allow uses to evenly distribute their food for proper chilling. And finally, to open each compartment, the user would only have to open a small door, maybe 1/3 the size of a full fridge door. This would allow less cool air to escape during each opening.

It’s a refrigerator. Can’t you tell?

The competition building a disco house.

Each room is triggered with sensors to activate a lighting system. Prototyping cardboard courtesy of Domino’s Pizza.

 

 

In the end, we came in second place. We lagged behind in points for “Business Potential” and Team 3/4/2’s home security system with “Intruder Rave Alert” beat us out. Well, hey, there’s always next build!

 

 

CCNY Hack-a-thon approaching

FIRST Robotics is part of two upcoming Arduino events.

Workshop, (2/20/2015):

First, on February 20th, 2015, in the Steinman Hall Lobby, there will be an Arduino training workshop from 10 AM – 6 PM. Will food be provided, you ask? I knew that would be your first question. I believe the answer is a resounding, YES.

And most importantly, what can you learn at this workshop? This workshop is suitable for anyone who has no experience with programming or Arduino hardware, up to people who have used Arduino on several projects, but want some more information about Arduino. Of course, if you are an Arduino guru, you should come also and let us absorb your microcontroller greatness.

And what specific skills will you learn? Learn how to program an Arduino to control motors of different types, LEDs, servos, and other types of sensors. You can also learn the basics of discrete circuit components. Other skills may also be taught, e.g., soldering.

Competition, (2/27/2015):

The above workshop will prepare CCNY students to participate in a general Arduino, build-something-or-fail hackathon that will be held on Friday, February 27th in the Steinman Hall Lobby.

What is a hackathon? A hackathon is a fun and competitive event in which people are split into small teams, each with the task of building something in response to a theme or assignment. For instance, at a hackathon last semester, the theme was “productivity” and teams had an Arduino microcontroller and they needed to build something that responded to this theme.

Well, since I am biased to support my own team, let me tell you about what we built. Ingeniously, we constructed a clock that displayed world time in binary coded format. Our clock was also constructed out of the finest museum grade soapbox cardboard that money can’t buy. Our LEDs shone through the darkness of the Engineering Building and with each tick of the clock children wept because the display was so beautiful. We constructed this priceless piece of artwork, not a minute before 7 PM and then proceeded to come in second place, because someone else built a knife that spun around on a servo, which I suppose was productive because it could have turned a coffee maker on 😉

Our binary clock.

Hackathons are also fun if legend is built around them, and a polite amount of bragging occurs. 🙂

In all seriousness, come to the training workshop on February 20th and the real deal on February 27th!

Special Event: CCNY FIRST Robotics at Tau Beta Pi Hackathon

This last weekend, the Engineering Honors Society, Tau Beta Pi, held a hack-a-thon in Steinman Hall. Serendipitously, several members of CCNY FIRST Robotics met up and created a team to compete in the 7-hour hack-a-thon.

The build theme was “Productivity” and competitors had to build a “productive” ‘bot with a supplied Arduino kit that was:

• Creative
• Original
• Able to change the world
• And, I suppose it had to be “productive” too

After some deliberation, our team chose to build a binary clock, and the drama to build it came down to the very last binary minute.

Coding the binary clock.

While two of our team members worked on creating flawless Arduino codes, two other members set about soldering together an LED display for our timeless clock. The body of our clock was made from an impenetrable bar soap box.

Austere, modern, binary.

Our finished clock featured a four-segment binary display, capable of displaying the hour of Earth’s time, in binary, (2^3, 2^2, 2^1, 2^0 readout, left to right). The clock also had an alarm feature, and would play “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” (or was it “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”) every twelve seconds. Naturally, the finished clock also had a motion sensor attached to it and if the user got too close, the alarm would also trigger.

If you approach me, I’ll sing to you.

Each team faced difficult questioning from the judges, and there was much hooting and hollering. In the end, the judges judged, and our sweet binary clock did not win. Another team that built a rotating coffee pot/home security system beat us out, but it was a hard won victory for the other team because we gave them some stiff competition.

We can’t wait for the next hack-a-thon!

Explain your build!