Build It Weekend 3.0

Event Pictures

 

Build it Weekend 3.0: The Home of Technical Innovation in Lebanon

Three days, a hundred and fifty people, free tools and equipment, and a desire to win; sounds like the plotline of a “Hunger Games” sequel but turns out to be much more demanding – and a lot less violent – It is IEEE AUB’s annual Build It Weekend in its 3rd edition!
The Build It Weekend is a yearly, national, university-level hardware hackathon weekend; organized jointly by the IEEE AUB Student Branch and the AUB Robotics Club. In its third iteration, we kicked things off by an opening ceremony explaining all rules of the Competition and then teams were granted access to the Labs at Oxy Engineering Complex and the race to vistory began. Teams were required to design, program and build a functional prototype that exhibited a sense of innovation, creativity, and usefulness.
After 48hrs, 100 gallons of Coffee, and 300 Burger King meals, five teams came out as winners with outstanding innovative prototypes that impressed our highly experienced pannel of judges. Surviving examination and evaluation from AUB’s very own Dr. Mazen Saghir, Dr. Imad El Hajj, Dr. Youssef Tawk and Dr. Bassel Jalaleddine, those are the top 5 teams that gave it their all and made it to the top:

1st place – $700 prize

“The Mechs” (USJ-ESIB) designed a virtual keypad security gate based on laser emitters and click here opto-sensors along with an app for security notifications. Not bad for mechanical engineers.

2nd place – $500 prize

“KEK” (AUST) presented a tailored V plotter which uses vectors instead of pixels to draw portraits. Tried to use it to draw my own portrait.

3rd place – $300 prize

“Requiem for a Click Here Machine” (AUB) came up with a smart Braille plotting machine based on a CNC and voice command app: English is translated to Braille language. Translated English to 300$$$.

4th place

“Late Registration” (AUB) built a dyslexic tailored piano with light commands and automated instructor guide lessons. A personal favorite! – My friends payed me to say so.

5th place

“Spidy” (AUB) for their work on a spider-looking robot with suction cup ends, camera, and ultrasonic sensors. The robot is tailored for duct and air vents inspection without having the air flow compromising the robot’s structural integrity. It comes with a software interface for remote control as well as image and video recording. Scarier than actual spiders!

But in the end, all teams that made it to the last day ended up benefitting from this enriching experience with a hope of participating again next year.
A final special thanks to our partners: Beirut Electronic Shop (BEC), Cube 3DB, Burger King, Lamba Labs and Light FM.
We are always proud of our young innovative tech participants and hope to see them and many more again next year.

—Kareem Ayoub

 

For more pictures of the event visit Mais Hatem Facebook Page!