By Anayansy Hernandez
Engineers, developers, designers, and others joined forces under one roof to solve real-world problems in 48 hours. This was the result of HackinMiami’s first AI-focused hackathon in the city. The two-day event took place June 15th-16th at The Hub @ Office Logic and showcased and elevated Miami’s local tech talent.
“Everyone has complained that there is a lack of engineers and builders at events. If you want to create an ever-lasting ecosystem, you need to bring in the coders and this is the first proof of concept for that,” said Ayal Stern, member of HackinMiami’s steering committee.
The event partnered with Florida International University, the University of Miami, Miami Dade College, and coder communities to recruit talent for the hackathon. Sponsors including Google, JP Morgan, Delta, Digital Era, and The Hub @ Office Logic greatly rewarded the winners.
So, What Took Place?
In a fireside chat, Aditi Joshi, Google Cloud AI/ Core ML, joined the stage and shared how to leverage AI tools to build the next billion-dollar company. “Some of you have multi-billion dollar ideas in your hands,” she said. Joshi shared her belief that product managers will not be replaced by AI because humans crave human connection and i.nteraction, an experience AI is unable to create.
Renato Lopez, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Very Big Things also shared his thoughts on the topic. “We like to think of AI as the next step of automation, not the replacement of people.” During his fireside chat, Lopez shared case studies on how his company is using generative AI to unite brands and execute faster workflows to optimize employee productivity.
Non-Stop Hacking
More than 17 hacker groups energetically coded solutions throughout the two days. The groups tackled problems in industries like education, health, sustainability, finance, and others.
Distinguished ideas included Old McDonald – an app that would allow urban farming to occur in your apartment, and Headcount – an innovative elevator safety app designed to address overcrowding by using real-time video analytics and AI.
“Hackathons are always a good time to try new things, I loved learning about the Google Cloud Platform and loved using it for my first time to deploy a project,” Juan Zamudio, a member of Old McDonald said.
Prizes, Prizes, and More Prizes!
Prizes were abundant at the event. The overall HackinMiami AI Hackathon Winner was KiddoQuiz, a customizable platform that produces age-appropriate, gamified tailored assessments for students to access on their devices. KiddoQuiz [pictured at the top of this post with the hackathon’s steering committee members and volunteers] took home $3,600 Delta flight credits, $2,000 in Google Cloud credits for being runner-up for the Google Cloud Best Project Award, and a full year of free hotdesk access from The Hub @ Office Logic.
The runner-up for the hackathon TongueSten [pictured below], a fitness tracking app that helps experienced gym-goers monitor and personalize their gym experience. The app offers workout recommendations and can suggest specific exercises or sets. TongueSten won $1,400 Delta flight credits and six months of free hotdesk access at The Hub at Office Logic.
Headcount won the Google Cloud Best Project Award taking home $5,000 in Google Cloud credits.
More to Come
The hackathon may be over but the spirit of innovation continues. The steering committee hopes to create more hackathons every quarter. “Google has always been present in Miami and the goal was to be closer to the community, we’re excited to do these and continue to give to the community,” Pipe Martina, Google Cloud Customer Engineer said.
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