Edison for lifeguard, for pianist, for everyone. Results of Intel IoT Roadshow SPb, part 1 - winners

With hackathons, programmers' competitions, now you will not surprise anyone - in large cities they pass regularly. The more pleasant for us, the organizers, was to see the interest that the Intel hackathon in St. Petersburg , dedicated to the Internet of things and the Edison microcomputer , aroused. There were so many people and devices that even before the official start of the competition, the IP addresses issued on the Demola coworking network had run out . And, despite the technical overlays, inevitable in such a large undertaking, we can confidently and responsibly declare: the event was a success! And the main confirmation of this is those projects that we saw on it. About them here and tell, mainly the words of the participants themselves.



34 projects were announced for the contest, they were actually slightly smaller, and, of course, not everyone got to the finish. However, the choice was from what, and the jury, which included our colleague, had to steam up to choose the strongest. However, any competition must have winners, and they have been selected.
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1 place. Thermal radiation detector for search and rescue in the natural environment

In Russia, in the summer period, a huge number of people are lost in the woods - in the "high season" there are hundreds of them every week. The rescue of these people is carried out by professional rescuers of the Emergency Ministry and voluntary rescue organizations. It often happens that the account goes on hours and minutes, then the search does not stop at night. The so-called night search and rescue work in the natural environment is a very complex undertaking. Darkness greatly reduces the ability of search groups. It is extremely difficult to notice a person lying motionless in the forest at night from a distance of more than 15 meters.



The solution of this important and more than real problem was taken by the team of Andrey Shelavin. Here is what he told.
About the project: The device we propose to create is a relatively simple, reliable and practical version of the thermal imager on pyroelectric effect. The device consists of an optical system with a pyrometric sensor, tuned to the average length of the infrared radiation emitted by the human body, and means for processing and indicating the signal received with its help. Thanks to high-aperture optics, mathematical methods of digital signal processing, as well as the use of modern sensors, a person’s detection range is expected to reach from a distance of 50-70 meters.



On victory: Of course, we really wanted to take a seat, but it was precisely for victory that we did not count on seriously. Around us were wonderful people with interesting projects worthy of great attention. Even on the first day, when we managed to assemble a working amplifying circuit and get a clear, clear signal on the oscilloscope screen from a wave of the hand from a distance of several tens of meters, it was already a victory. Not a victory on the hackathon, but something else, I am talking about the feeling that is familiar to all people who have ever achieved their goal with great difficulty.



About Intel Edison: Edison turned out to be the most difficult device prototyping device for me among those I worked with (Arduino, Raspberry pi, STM * Discovery, a number of industrial single-board devices with ARM). Some things, such as SPI, were given by some incomparable work. Perhaps I just rested my head on the ceiling of my own competence. Nevertheless, all engineering tasks were solvable, and, as you see, we were able to either cope with them or find a simple workaround.

About future. The first thing we intend to do is to create not a mock-up, but an industrial prototype. That is, to make our thermal radiation detection system already in a reliable, impact-resistant casing using the same technologies for which it will be produced in series. This will help us, including the money won on the hackathon.

2nd place. SenseDrive

Imagine a virtual world in which you can be anyone or anything, in which your abilities expand, where you yourself can manage time and space. And what if you connect this world to a network of electronic devices? This will give virtually unlimited control and management of things. For example, while on a country trip, you can check which household electronic devices you forgot to turn off and take care of a working iron in time. At the same time, looking through the mail, you can “move in” at any time in the robot avatar and see for yourself that your children did not have time to foul, and adjust the thermostat for the optimum temperature in the house.



Most importantly - there are no wires, joysticks or consoles. All your gestures are tracked by an Intel RealSense camera, which interacts with a network of devices based on Intel Edison.
So, a little bit of pictures from the future performed by the team of Maxim Massalsky. More specifically, the project’s goal is to develop an interface for managing the Internet of things from virtual reality. As a demonstration of the capabilities of the system, the robot-avatar platform and additional mechatronic modules managed remotely from virtual reality are used.



A word to the captain.
Our team worked hard to enter the top three. But we didn’t want to think about winning, our goal was not to lose and to perform well, which we did. Other teams performed well and at some point we started to think that we had no chance. But the support from the audience, participants who approached and tested our SenseDrive virtual control technology before the presentation, gave us the strength and confidence that the project will be able to compete for the prize!



Participation in the hackathon gave us new strength for the development of the SenseDrive project. We met with other teams. We have expanded our horizons about what the market needs now in the Internet of Things segment. Charged with new ideas for further work.
Now our goal is to create different versions of robots and devices with their integration into the smart home. In my opinion, to enter the market, our SenseDrive technology should become ill accessible and most likely undergo more than one change in order to become a successful product. It is possible that we will find application for our technology in educational robotics and modern education.

3rd place. Mæstro

Team Mæstro - about your project.
Mæstro is a pair of smart gloves that help the pianist while playing and learning the piano. Our main goal is to create a multifaceted means of support that will expand opportunities and help overcome the physical barriers to pianists of all levels, from different music industries. Basically, the Mæstro uses the Intel Edison board and a system of vibration and light indicators that help the musician to correctly position his fingers and keep up the pace during the game.



Due to the effects of vibrations on the fingers, the user can learn the most complex musical drawings by means of muscle memory alone, even if it cannot be memorized otherwise. LEDs, in turn, allow the musician to assess their readiness for the game at a given pace and suggest the next steps.



Mæstro also contains a set of sensors that monitor the movements and actions of the pianist. This functionality is implemented using bending resistors, which change their resistance depending on how bent they are. In projects involving the use of such functionality, often strain gauges are used, but our choice fell on flex sensors (flex sensors) because the cost of these sensors is much lower and the accuracy of the returned information remains at the same level.
Mæstro collects information about the complexity of the compositions, the speed of the game and the mistakes of the pianist and provides them in an understandable form, allowing the user to analyze their progress.



At the end of the "award" post - on the prizes of our partners.
The Igo3D 3D printer shop provided winners with discounts on all equipment and services, and additionally presented the winner with a 3Doodler 3D pen.

The startup accelerator iDealMachine has noticed a number of projects - Mæstro, SenseDrive, ParKeeper, RS485ToCloud, Bike Brains - and plans to talk with them about participation in the Presentation Day.

Finally, Steel business accelerator took the winning team under its wing and will help it develop its product.

Intel hackathons are a great way to turn your passion into a successful innovative business. Start with us !

ps A detailed photo essay from the event can be found in the community Intel Developer Zone on Google+ .