First engineering hackathon a success

Cardiff School of Engineering’s first Hackathon, hosted in association with General Electric (GA) Aviation, has been hailed as a huge success.

Presented with a real-life problem by the aviation engine manufacturer, around a dozen teams composed of both students and staff interrupted their Easter break to return to their workshops and computer rooms and find a suitable solution.

“The challenge was to construct a fixture to lift an entire rig of high pressure nozzles, keeping them held together, and be able to place them in a tank,” explained event organisers Clare Gillam, Andy Maund and Rishi Kalra.

The teams worked throughout 7th-8th April, with many remaining on site overnight – powered by a healthy combination of caffeine and takeaway pizza – to hone their designs.

The event was won by ‘AU Digger$’ (John Penketh, Simon A. Betts and Lewis Williams) – with Au being the chemical symbol for gold.

‘Universally Challenged’ (Daniel Mitchell, Craig Murray, Joseph Morris and James McKie) were named runners-up, whilst third place went to ‘Alva’ (Luigi Calabrese, Carlos Rodriguez Rodrigo, Sameeh Baqain, Dipendra Gurung and Rebeka Benedekova).

Ryan Marks, a Cardiff University Aerospace Research Engineer, was invited to judge the entries and declared the event “absolutely brilliant”.

“It was a top effort from all the students and the organisers,” he added. “A good, industrially relevant event!”