Two teams take out title at Boeing’s first Australian Hackathon

Joint-capabilities

13 December 2018

By: Louis Dillon

Two teams have claimed the spoils at Boeing’s three-day Hackathon event in Brisbane, impressing judges with their technical solutions that unlock the applications of autonomous systems.

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The event attracted over 90 registrations, with teams formed to solve their choice of five challengers set by Boeing engineers. Experts from Boeing and several Queensland SMEs were on hand to provide guidance for the competitors.

The Hackathon challenges spanned topics related to the safe application of autonomous systems, including augmented/virtual reality, modelling and simulation, information security and machine learning.

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“This hackathon was designed to engage Queenslanders in the art of the possible, inspire new ways of thinking about autonomy, and give participants an insight into the world of rapid ideation and prototyping that our Boeing engineers experience every day,” said Shane Arnott, director of Boeing Phantom Works International.

Teams 'Float' and 'Emoji' took out joint first place prizes, with Team Float creating a detect and avoid proof-of-concept system that could enable unmanned aerial vehicles to safely operate in the same airspace as commercial aircraft.

Team Emoji came up with an airborne imagery analysis solution that enables the autonomous operation of an electro-optical camera to identify and track points of interest.

The judging panel consisted of Leanne Kemp, Queensland chief entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Everledger; Jane Hunter, chief operating officer of Boeing Phantom Works International; and Emily Hughes, chief engineer of Boeing Phantom Works International.

Meanwhile, 'Team Discovery Channel' received the People's Choice Award for their use of virtual reality to "visualise a UAV flight deck that could support the futuristic simulation of autonomous taxis".