The journey to the grand finale of the “Smart India Hackathon 2018 - Hardware Edition”, began in December,2017. The idea to build a device that could give real-time pollution data was an outcome of “Design Thinking Workshop”. It was facilitated by Prof. Jogindra Panghal, who helped us define our problem statement thoroughly and gave us the most important inputs – time and resources. We realized how important it was to solve the problem of pollution caused by traffic congestion and to spread awareness about this in more localized way. Most of our mentors and faculty members saw great potential in the idea and encouraged it. Just when we took up the challenge to solve this problem, we found the right platform – Smart India Hackathon. With the help of Dr D Santosh, we registered for it. A group of students including our team leader visited CBIT, Hyderabad to attend an event conducted by Smart India Hackathon to motivate students and this event was a game changer, as it successfully inspired the team to work even harder and smarter.
Meanwhile, we started working on our idea with the goal to present it in Open House. We acquired cheap sensors and other required hardware. We successfully developed the device to calculate AQI within a week’s time and presented a working model in Open House – March 2018, VNR VJIET. We also presented our device at Ruedo, GRIET and was recognized as an innovative project. Few days later, we received an email from Smart India Hackathon, declaring that we had qualified to the next round. We were filled with joy on receiving this news. However, we knew that the time had come to prove our wit and worth, as the deadline to submit our prototype’s video to SIH was clashing with our final exam schedule. We successfully finished making the desired prototype and shot the video, courtesy - smart usage of time and strategic execution of plan.
The final round’s results were out before the expected date and we received a mail congratulating us, as we had booked our place into the “Grand Finale” of the prestigious and world’s largest hackathon - “Smart India Hackathon 2018 - Hardware Edition”. It was a proud moment for us as we were going to represent our college on a national forum. However, the preparations for the grand finale were even more intense. We decided to scale up our prototype, by adding better sensors, by replacing the Arduino board with Atmega328P-PU and started designing a PCB to house them. We were also allotted industry-based mentors to guide us and support us through the product development phase.
SIH was being held at various nodal centers across India and we were allotted IISc., Bengaluru under the theme – “Automobiles/Smart Vehicles”. We reached our center one day in prior and resumed our work there. We got our team registered on 17.06.18 and the hackathon commenced on 18.06.18. We were provided with individual rooms for stay and a cab to commute in-campus. There were two volunteers for our team, to help us through our stay at IISc. We were provided with food coupons and were regularly served snacks and hot beverages at our work stations. The hospitality was top-class.
The hackathon commenced with an inaugural ceremony, in which we were facilitated and motivated by the HRD Minister, Shri. Prakash Javadekar over a live broadcast. We interacted with the other teams there after the inaugural and left for our work-stations. We began working on the project as per the plan. We worked relentlessly and only left our seats for lunch/dinner. We struggled through the first day as we lacked in our progress made in the mobile application and hardware. We decided to break at midnight and decided to begin our work with a fresher mind.
We began our day with a yoga session, which was conducted by SIH Volunteers of IISc. in the iconic “main building”. We began our work with a fresh mind and were able to make significant progress in the mobile application. The first round of evaluation was due for 4 PM and we prepared our presentation for it. The jury members went around to each work station and evaluated them. We did well in the first round of evaluation. We continued working until midnight and then took a break for the day.
The third day was the most exciting day of the hackathon. After the yoga session and breakfast, we went back to our work-stations to resume our work. The hardware part was still incomplete due to practical errors in radio communication. However, the team kept working with a calm mind. Mr. Sachin Thakur (our mentor) helped the team build a business model and a presentation parallelly. The 3D model of the outer casing was also being developed by the designing team. However, we still didn’t seem to make any good progress. This chaos was to put to rest when Mr. Shwethal Shah, a technical advisor of Climate Change Department of the Government of Gujarat, visited our work place. He helped us re-define our idea and guided us through what path we should choose. It worked like magic, as we now progressed with a clear head and switched tracks. We modified our communication stack and worked on developing a more sustainable and accurate AQI measuring device. The jury visited us on the third day and our presentation was decent. We continued working till about 2 AM that day as we wanted to bring our ideas to life before it’s too late. We packed our bags only after completing the hardware, mobile app and 3D model.
On the fourth day, Mr. Shwethal Shah paid u a surprise visit and was extremely pleased by our team’s dedication and appreciated us. He also gave us his visiting card and clicked a picture with us. We felt a sense of accomplishment for the first time in four days. We gave finishing touches to the hardware and got it ready for the 3rd round of presentation for the jury. This time the jury was extremely happy and impressed and left our work station by appreciating us. AICTE Chairman Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, also visited our work-station and appreciated us. We ended the day on a high note and we were looking forward to winning the competition.
The fifth day began with a yoga session and a sumptuous breakfast. We began preparing for our final demonstration. We used the money provided by SIH to buy more components and materials required to prepare for our demonstration. The team leader rehearsed his final presentation and all the hardware and circuitry was ratified as perfect by our mentor. The hackathon ended with a ceremony at 2 PM. The final demonstration began at 4 PM and the jury reached our work-station by about 6:45 PM. As the team leader, I began my presentation and continued with the demonstration. The results were announced an hour later, and we were disappointed that we lost. However, we left the auditorium with our heads held high, because we knew that, “everybody was a winner” and that we had been given a “ticket to a gold mine” through this hackathon. We learnt a lot more than just hardware or software skills. We learnt the importance of the right direction as “moving fast or smart in the wrong direction leaves you in a maze which ends nowhere”. We learnt the importance of team coordination, leadership qualities, communication and socializing skills. We built new contacts and got to learn from the best in the industry. Isn’t this all this, but a gold mine for a student because this is what he always dreams for.
As planned, we decided to begin the implementation of “AtmAA – Atmospheric Air Analyser” at VNR VJIET by installing two devices and then collecting and analysing data from it before scaling up. The college has supported us throughout the project by providing us with mentors, funds and resources. Our journey wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Dr D Santosh, Dr Madhusudhan, Dr C Kiran, Mr Kranthi Kumar, Dr Y Padma Shayi, Dr Poonam Upadhyay, Mr Krishna, Mr Sachin Thakur, Mr Swethal Shah and many others who have supported us directly or indirectly. We wish to keep moving forward and develop the best product to help people travel safely and to contribute in reducing pollution.
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