Computer science students awarded second place prizes at EcoHack
Judges for EcoHack 2022 awarded students from the Department of Computer Science second place prizes for their projects on accessible washrooms and wildlife tracking within in the city.
EcoHack 2022 took place November 8-10, 2022 on campus. The hackathon is an immersive experience where multidisciplinary teams generate viable solutions to a problem of their choosing within a sustainability theme.
This year, students were invited to choose a challenge connected to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals selected by community partners.
Final awards included bursaries ranging from $250-$1,000 (split between team members).
Barrier Free Public Washrooms
Nacim Khelifi, Akshara Dash and Kamal Zrein won a Courageous Curiosity second-place prize in EcoHack 2022. Their project to create barrier-free public washrooms in Saskatoon addresses the current limitations in access to key sanitary services.
In 36 hours, the team designed a 3-D model and companion app prototype for a barrier-free washroom, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days per year. The model included features such as self-cleaning, seating areas, heating and Wi-Fi access.
“Our main goal was to be inclusive and accessible,” Akshara said. “We wanted to serve the community that needed it the most while not alienating the rest. Winter was a big consideration as well, since there's not a lot of places to warm up for someone without a home.”
Judges valued the inclusion of a heating space and washing space, noting that the spaces serve different needs in our community. The pitch demonstrated outside-the-box thinking and a fresh approach to washroom design for optimal accessibility.
Wild Track
Diksha Singh and Inika Babbar won the other Courageous Curiosity prize with team members from the College of Engineering for their solution to wildlife tracking. Their project, "Wild Track", answered the question: how might we effectively monitor wildlife in the city of Saskatoon?
Wild Track is wildlife tracking app that engages the community and leverages new data for the government that is not currently available. Judges were impressed with the idea of parking/transit rewards to encourage citizen participation.
EcoHack is presented by the USask Office of Sustainability