AT&T EduTech Hackathon

Image: Technically Philly

This weekend, the Solar Sunflower project was selected as one of 5 finalists to advance to the Switch Philly event on April 23 and compete for a $5,000 prize. The field was narrowed down at the AT&T EduTech hackathon at Temple University on Saturday. Like TechCamp, the hackathon (organized by AT&T, Jarvus, Technically Philly and Temple’s Urban Apps and Maps Studio) focused on using technology to improve education. Some of the other projects included a mobile app that helps students find the safest walking route to school; a game app that uses a fantasy-football approach to tracking learning progress; and an app that connects students with tutors.

Not all our team was there, but Chris Nies and I were able to present a working demo of real-time sensor data being posted to the web in front of an audience and a panel of judges. It sounds pretty rosy in hindsight, but to be honest we spent hours just trying to send data via Temple’s WiFi network; these things happen. Thanks to Jarvus’ Chris Alfano and Technically Philly’s Brian James Kirk for their support and encouragement.

Here’s Technically Philly’s coverage of the event. We stole their photo of our box of Arduino stuff, above.