ACM UMN

MinneHack 2020

February 2, 2020

(Posted by louis on 2020-02-02)

What was MinneHack 2020?

During MinneHack 2020 student programmers competed over a 24-hour event to build the best project on a theme. The event was attended by 310 hackers, around 50 corporate sponsors and mentors, and run by 8 staff and a number of awesome voulenteers. The prompt this year was: develop a solution for local communities to help them foster social good.

Photos from the event.



First Place: cleanse

"Our app uses an array of sensors to measure various factors in your house that may cause carbon emissions by unwanted means. Factors such as humidity, temperature, and water leaks are measured. Additionally, an ultrasonic sensor is used to tell whether a door is left open. By informing the user of how many carbon emissions these factors cause, the user can implement ways to reduce carbon emissions in their house and community and therefore lower a community's carbon footprint and better their quality of life. The app also includes a reward system that incentivizes users to make more green choices."

Second Place: Power My Tech

"What we've done is create a system the not only uses existed energy that is wasted but tracks all of the renewable energy and credits your account. We track various devices on your account to view the amount of savings for all the energy you help save. At the end, you can transfer your savings to Bitcoin. It's that easy."

Third Place: SnapArt

"After an artist finishes an art installation around the community, they can upload it SnapArt with info about themselves, the artwork, and where people can find them online. Community members can then snap a picture of the artwork and learn more about it."



Best UIPath Automation Hack: Teacher's Pet

"Teacher's Pet is WebApp / Robot that allows teachers to teach their lessons to students that aren't present without the hassle of setting up a complicated recording system. The camera it is attached to is built with facial recognition to detect the Teacher and start the class. Once the program is ran, students who are viewing the WebApp will then be able to see, hear, read, and follow along the teacher. There is a function that allows the student to take a screen shot of the whiteboard, and there is a designated area that will translate what is on the whiteboard onto the WebApp. Along with that, the WebApp also translates the video audio that's coming in from the live feed, and it also has the feature to follow the teacher as they move around the classroom."

Best use of Google Cloud: World Reader

"Our team knows some friends who are visually impaired, so we wanted to make something to keep them safe and help them better understand their environment. It takes input images from either the camera or the storage and interpret the content of the image in natural language. It also read the content descriptions out loud for its users."

"TrashMaps uses an IR break beam to count how many items are thrown away into a trash can, and detect if the trash can is full. It then stores this information in a database which a web interface uses to display the fullness and usage data of trash cans. This interface also integrates a map feature to map trash can ids to locations in the real world."

Most Creative Radar.io Hack: VoteR

"This app connects helps voters find polling stations near them, as well as lists candidates who are up for election, and the office they are running for without requiring them to enter information on an outside site. This also pairs people who need a ride to a polling station with those who are able to assist and give rides."



Our Sponsors

We are able to put on the event thanks to our generous corporate and community sponsors. ACM UMN partners with companies to make this (and other) events possible. Read about our sponsorship tiers and opportunities for next year!

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