Students develop their technological talents at Hakd 2019

hakd 2019 group

From the moment the lights went down, the smoke machines blew and the music started, our young hackers were fully logged in and engrossed in Hackathon 2019. With over one hundred and twenty of the best and brightest students from all over China, the third annual Hackathon was destined to be an amazing experience for our fifteen Junior School and six senior school pupils. It did not disappoint! 

The pupils were split into collaborative think tank groups of four at Dulwich Shanghai Pudong, and set tasks from eight scenarios, all under the theme of technology “On the Move”. With workshops on robotics, programming, Microbits, wearable tech, Arduinos, virtual reality, facial recognition, cryptography and 3D printing, the precedence was set for a most interesting weekend. 

Throughout the weekend pupils worked tirelessly to create prototypes to solve their “real world” scenarios, which they presented on Sunday afternoon to the panel. Finalists then presented their ideas in the auditorium to parents and peers alike.   

We are proud to write that two of our Junior School pupils were part of the winning team, creating a multifunctional transport vehicle, which applied much of their newly learned skills mixed with prior knowledge from DCSZ. Part of our Senior School cohort also made the final with the design of a security-based computer system which helped aide communication. This was an extremely impressive design and they should be very proud of their runners-up position, earnt within a highly competitive field 

The weekend was a huge success for the students, and staff, with all thoroughly enjoying themselves and taking away new friendships and skills. We thank all those involved in the preparation of this event and very much look forward to HackD 2020. 

 

Student Reflections: 

I signed up for HakD this year because I really enjoy robotics and would like to share my passion with other people whilst learning new things. This year, I especially liked the workshops (I signed up for “Creating a VR world” and microelectronics). These workshops really helped my knowledge of coding and both virtual building and real building. My favourite part of the event was that I got work create a virtual world, something I have always dreamt of doing, which was seriously cool. I now want to learn more about microelectronics and how to add codes into VR worlds. At HakD, I worked with two girls from another school in Beijing. We made an automatic pet feeder, it could feed your pet for you daily and you could see your pet through a camera whilst you are on holiday in another country. In addition, there are wheels so you can control this awesome robot to play with your pet or following your pet around your house as you are lying on the beach with your phone in your hands. I designed and printed a prototype of it with a 3d printer. 

Emma L 

I decided to join HakD because I wanted to learn more about technology and how it affects the world now and how it will affect the future. 

We worked collaboratively as a group and chose the “scenario 3 project” which was an earthquake machine that would help in the future to save more people more effectively. 

The product my group created was the “Scorpanoc” - an earthquake rescuer. It’s long, armoured tail bats away obstacles in front of the machine and the claws scoop up other objects that the tail cannot reach. The actual size of the robot should be approximately 67 times the size of an SUV. 

Even though we didn’t get through to the finals, I think it was still worth it because we had gained lots of experience. We did Level 1 biomimicry of a scorpion because scorpions live in tough environments and they have a strong body structure so we decided to mimic it. 

My favourite part of HakD was the building process of our earthquake robot because we used many useful structures and combined lots of different elements and ideas. 

Ethan Z 

I signed up for HakD because it sounded fun and I wanted to learn more about technology. During the 3 days, I learnt how to code micro:bit, a tiny programmable computer and create an iMovie that would help me in the D’Oscars. My favorite part was creating a product for the project because I got to work with new friends. My group decided to make a hat that could light up at night and during the day to help people see where the guards are easily. Also, if there is an emergency, then the hat would make a siren sound. We made it using LED lights with some coding on the micro:bit, and a hat. In reflection, I think that we could have been able to add other functions if there was more time. Now I want to learn about how to encrypt and decrypt codes. I would like to join again next year to learn more new things. 

Isabella P

 

Winner of the entire JS category: Jihoon M and Benjamin Q - 

We built a cargo ship called “Titanica”, that could go safely between land and ocean without dropping any cargo. Our robotic ship has two wheels at the back for land and one wheel at the front to keep it steady. We added two propellers at the back to make it work on water, which can also stand upright and keep balance so that the cargo doesn’t fall off. We got the idea from a race car model. There is a sensor on the front of the ship that can sense incoming obstacles. In addition, the claw at the front can break up ice bergs. 

 

By Joseph Humphrey and Craig Godbold