In the summer of 2021, over 160 students, mentors, educators, etc. gathered for NIIT University's 3rd edition of HackNU. This was an opportunity to ideate, built, learn and share prototypes during Covid-19. For those who don't know what's a Hackathon, a hackathon is an event where people come together, form teams, and propose a radical solution to an existing problem in a finite time span.
" We believe that education can not only be found in books or in classes, but also in constructing ideas together where everyone is heard and seen. "
1) Let's get into the roots!
There wasn't just a problem but a stack of problems. So our team Zero Bug went into the root and figured out problems we face in the university. Here is the list of the challenges faced by us:
Waiting in line at Nescafe, HOD, Apna Gaon, TMP, and Tuck Shop.
Not getting adequate qty. of food while in Quarantine.
Students don't know much about medical shops and food stores around campus.
Calling for booking a cab sometimes becomes too hectic.
Students get to know about events through emails which sometimes gets confusing.
Have to face problems at the main gate when ID is lost or left in the room.
2) Where there is a Problem, there is a Solution
After brainstorming many ideas, we have reached some solutions.
Here are the proposed solutions:
1) With NU Connect, students will be ordering our food online at our pick-up time. So there will be no waiting in lines. Students will pick up their order at the time they mentioned. It will save time and will reduce the rush. Currently, there is cash on delivery on the portal but more options will be added soon if the need arises.
2) NU Connect can virtually connect people with the university. They can do a campus tour while sitting in their home. We intend to map the whole university such as a library, mess, etc.
3) We aim to help students by providing information regarding the availability of cabs. A cab sharing option is also there wherein you can book a cab with your friends.
4) NU Connect displays a list of all shops (food, general stores & medical stores) and bus stands as well as provides navigating links so that it is easier to locate them.
5) Using it, students will be able to get updates from a website about coming events in advance so they will plan accordingly. Not only this, our website will provide links to almost all event's webpages which will in turn increase participation of university students.
6) NU Connect lets students raise requests regarding food quantity beforehand.
7) We have also enabled laundry, library, and mess services for the students so that things don't become too complicated for students.
8) Forgetting your ID card at home or a room is a common mistake made by almost everyone in their starting year. Using our site, they can generate a virtual ID card then and there. The student has to just scan the QR code which is there on the website and his/her card will be visible. This will ensure a smooth check-in/out at the campus.
9) As we are providing college management service so we have an admin side of our website as well that will help mess in charge, laundry service providers, library/photocopy staff, and even outside vendors that will come to our college on daily basis in providing better and hassle-free service to everyone staying on campus.
3) Got a solution? Got a challenge?
During the course of the Hack, we ran into quite a few challenges.
Firstly, having never worked with EchoAR or Unity, it proved to be quite a challenge during the hack. It took us 3-4 days to learn the basic functionalities of the two. As we are Zero Bug, so having a bug in our system would be a discredit. So while compiling the site, many things had to be made responsive so to prevent a bad user experience. So we tested our website on various devices. We also encountered challenges while making FoodZone. As we are new to databases and all, we faced numerous errors. Though we are happy that all errors got resolved in a day or two.
Last but not the least, we had to go an extra mile while hosting the site. Challenges help us to learn more and so we learned a lot of new technologies. We finally have a product we're proud of and think could be of great help to anyone at NU. This project can be used in real-time and can even be expanded by adding several other functionalities.
Some future prospects we have mentioned in our presentation are :
1) We can add a Virtual Reality Lab feature so that labs can be conducted efficiently through online mode.
2) After the university opens up fully, we can also map the university using Google VR 360 deg. This will enable a smooth experience of a virtual tour for people who can't come to the university.
4) Dive more deeper
The technology used in the front end of the website is HTML, CSS, and Javascript. The apps are made using native Java.
The backend used in the food zone is PHP and MySQL.
The technology used in making the backend for ID cards is EchoAR. EchoAR is a software by which we can integrate AR into websites and apps. We have also used unity to place the object files on the screen. For tracking real-time orders, we have used the google app script.
5) Lessons to take away from a Hackathon
1. Try to challenge yourself- We don't participate in hackathons every week, right? Hackathons demand so much from us. Do we lose our sleep? Yes. We may be always on alert and try to finish our work. But participating in hackathons is beyond putting in physical efforts. We set bars beyond our expectations. We always see a new version of ourselves after every hackathon as we are driven by the belief of accomplishing something. So completing a hackathon is a reward in itself.
2. Explore a bigger picture- Hackathons are not only about coding but also about seeing business and user perspectives. We navigated through different case scenarios and user problems which led us to a solid solution. We made sure to articulate everything for pitching like what are we building or why are we building. Observing business and users' angles was worth it.
3. Presentation details of your idea matter- Every hackathon organizes a presentation or says prototype demo round. So if you have spent hours building your prototype then working on its presentation might give it a good kickstart. We made sure that our slides aren't boring and did a bit of practice before presenting.
PRO-TIP: Don't forget to get in check with the organizers. Make sure they have all your required connections. Also, remember to check everything beforehand. Lastly, be careful with your slides. Their fonts may get messed up if you handover the links. Stick to PDFs or your own laptops.
4. Something will go wrong, it can't be all perfect- Prepare yourself for the worst. Anything can go wrong at any time. Hackathons are Ferris wheel ride with all the adrenaline rush and things don't work as expected.
In our team, editing software wasn't making desired changes, had uploading issues, and at the last minute of the deadline our work hadn't shown up on the system!
Those were definitely nerve-wracking issues but we made something for our good memories when we overcame those issues.
5. It's just the beginning- Hackathons are all about unpredictability. You never know when and what's gonna unfold. It led us to discover our interests and strengths. The hackathon expanded our views and made us aware of recent trends.
6) All's well that ends well
To make everything look effortless, it takes lots of hard work. Behind the scenes of HackNU3.0, the organizers have put a lot of effort into planning and execution. In the end, we are very proud of the event and someone who seeks to participate in the hackathon should be prepared to put their hard work into building their ideas. And also try to finish the hackathon. It will be all worth it in the end and you may end up building a billion-dollar idea.
Signing off, Team Zero Bug!
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